There was confusion on Wednesday at the Tinubu area of Lagos Island, after a suspected vandal, Johnson Ede, jumped from a car conveying him and five others to a magistrates’ court.
Ede and other suspects were arrested for allegedly vandalising water pipes on Akin Adesola Street, VI and for stealing 350 metres of 12mm cables owned by Hitec Construction on December 28.
The bad guy, 32-year-old Ede escaped through the window of the moving car with a pair of handcuffs in his hand.
The names of others are: Emmanuel Peters, 29; Idris Adamu, 27; Mohammed Ahmed, 37; Salisu Adamu, 33; and 23-year-old Odichi Ochechi.
PUNCH learnt that a woman corporal was taking Ede, whose name appeared as the first defendant on the charge sheet, and the five others to court when the incident happened.
The officer was not assisted in chasing the fleeing suspect when she called for help from passersby.
When the other five suspects were subsequently arraigned before the court a few hours later, she narrated the incident to the presiding magistrate, Mr. L.A. Owolabi, who enquired about the whereabouts of Ede, whose name appeared on the charge sheet as the first defendant.
“The car was moving when he (Ede) jumped from the window and escaped with the handcuffs in his hands. I was shouting for help, but people did not respond.
I decided to let him go so that the five others would not escape as well. We were almost at the court when he jumped down. I can’t explain how he managed to escape,” she said.
The remaining five suspects were arraigned on three counts bordering on vandalism and stealing by a police prosecutor, Inspector R.A. Odigie.
The rest accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and were admitted to bail by Owolabi, in the sum of N300,000 each with two sureties each in like sum.
The case was adjourned till February 29, 2016 for further trial.
