By Innocent Anaba

THE prevalence of confessional statements obtained from torture, which are mostly relied upon during trial in cases involving capital punishment, underscores the need to reform the country’s criminal justice system, particularly, the way confessional statements are extracted from suspects.

Though Lagos State law makes it mandatory for suspect’s lawyers to be present and do a video recording of such confessional statements, this has been more on paper than in practice.

While the complain from police is hinged on power outages and lack of recording equipments, this has been used to sideline the very important provision to save the citizens, like that of Sopuchi Obed who narrated his experience.

According to him: “I was on my way to a cybercafé, after attending a church programme. On getting to Igando, (Lagos) not far from the church, some policemen accosted me and forced me into their van. I didn’t understand what was happening, as I had thought there was a problem and that they wanted to save me. This happened barely four months after I arrived Lagos. I met another young boy in the van, who eventually from the police turned out to be my case mate.

From left: Williams Owodo, Christopher Okolie and Sopuchi Obed, all death row inmates, whose freedom was secured by LEDAP, which got the appellate courts to quash their sentences.

“At the station, the policemen forced me into a cell and said I was part of a robbery gang, which carried out an attack recently.

Torture room

I was still confused when they took me to their torture room and told me to confess. It was at that point that I began to suspect that I might be in real trouble, because coming from the village, I never in my wildest of dreams thought something of this could happen to me.

“I told the policemen that I knew nothing of the said robbery they were talking about. One of them slapped me on the face and I fell on the ground. They dragged and pulled me to a chair and asked me to confess, saying that they had dealt with more hardened criminals like me. I was weeping and shouting as they were hitting and beating me all over my body. At a point, one of the policemen, whom I assumed to be of my father’s age, hit me with the butt of his riffle and threatened to kill me if I didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear.

“While I was hesitating, he shot at my two legs and I slumped. While this was going on, they had placed a written statement on the table, which they read to me to sign. But because of the threats, after they had shot me, I just decided to sign the statement, at least if that will keep me alive because I had considered that if die, my father, who did not know where I was at that point, would not know what happened to me.

That was how I ended up wasting over 10 years of my life for what I knew nothing about,” Obed narrated this experience at Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP, at the opening of its national office in Lekki, Lagos.

But the excuses by the police, as LEDAP’s National Coordinator, Mr Chino Obiagwu, noted were not cogent, as the police from its budgetary provision have more than enough to ensure that the right thing was done so as to stop the practice of framing suspects once and for all.

Sunday Edet, like Obed, was barely 17 years old when he was arrested on September 30, 2004 on allegations by police at Igando police station that they were part of a group of young men seen by a police informant spending lavishly at a beer parlour, and overheard boasting of their unlawful escapades.

Unlawful escapades

They were however arrested, charged and eventually convicted.

Following the appeal against their conviction and sentence filed in 2011 by LEDAP, the Court of Appeal, Lagos, allowed their separate appeals and set aside their conviction and sentence. The court resolved 2 out of the 3 issues raised for determination in the appeal in their favour.

In particular, the court found that the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was mere hearsay and that the vital evidence required to prove the charge was not provided by the prosecution. Moreover, at the time of the incident, Obed and Edet were underaged persons who ought to have been taken to Juvenile Court rather than a High court.

The Court of Appeal decried the high court for not making detailed inquiry into the ages of the appellants.

In the case of Owodo, who was a juvenile at the time of his alleged offence, the court discharged and acquitted him of the charges against him after 17 years on death row, following an appeal by LEDAP on his behalf.

Allegation of murder

Owodo was arrested on February 1, 1995 with four other persons on allegation of murder, and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death on December 5, 2003 by the Lagos High Court.

Owodo, now 33, was 16 years old at the time the alleged offence was committed in 1995.

The case against him was that he was part of a group of young boys who fought and stabbed the deceased, who later died. The prosecution contended that Williams was among the eight other boys who were playing cards in the neighbourhood but spread dried cassava flour on the nearby street as bait to rob people.

They had common intention that anyone who stepped on the cassava would be challenged, providing them the opportunity to rob such a person of his or her property which included the deceased person. The defence of Owodo that he was playing football with his friends when they saw a crowd watching some people fighting.

He later left for his home and was on his way when a police van stopped beside him and he was pushed into the van and taken to Ajeromi Police Station. Many other persons were also raided and arrested that evening and brought to the police station. Some of those arrested paid money to bail themselves. But he had no money with him to pay for his bail, and could not reach his parents.

In a well considered judgment that resolved all the issues in favour of Owodo, the Appeal Court unanimously allowed the appeal; discharged and acquitted him of his conviction and sentence to death after 17 years of the arrest and remand.

The court particularly held, amongst others, that there was no eye witness that testified and linked the death of the deceased person to the act of the accused (Owodo). Moreso, at the time of the incident, the accused person was under aged and ought to have been taken to Juvenile Court for trial, the appellate court held that the High Court erred in law to have relied on the age of the accused person, Owodo, as at the time of the trial instead of his age as at the time the incident occurred.

For Idowu Shobowale and Kabiru Omolade, they were arrested on December 19, 1996 on allegation of murder. The two were subsequently convicted and sentenced to death on November 13, 2003 by the Lagos High Court.

The case against Shobowale and Omolade at the high court was that they participated in a fight between members of the apostolic church, Bayeku and the followers of Igunnuko of the same village on the December 21, 1996 which led to the death of one Pastor Oluwatosin Olaide.

Prosecution case was that the fight started when the Igunnuko worshippers invaded the apostolic church compound during a revival service and a fight ensued between the church members and the Igunnuko followers. Shobowale and Omolade, with one Olabisisi (3rd accused person at the trial court) were members of Igunnuko worshippers who took part in the fight. The case of Shobowale was that he came to the scene of the fight when he heard of the fight just to take away his child who was attending the church service and denied participating or instigating the masquerade to enter the church.

Omolade also confirmed that Idowu did not attack the deceased or took part in the fight and was not a member of the Igunnuko worshipper. Kabiru further stated in his evidence that even though he was Igunnuko worshipper and participated in the fight, that he did not stab the deceased. At the end of the trial in 2003, the trial court found them guilty and sentenced them to death.

Following the appeal against their conviction and sentence, filed by LEDAP, the Court of Appeal, Lagos allowed the appeal of the two appellants and set aside their conviction and sentence to death in a landmark judgment. In the judgment, the court resolved 5 out of the 7 issues raised at the appeal in favour of Shobowale and Omolade, the appellants in the appeal.

In the end, the court particularly found that: the prosecution failed to prove that it was the act or omission of the appellants that resulted in the death of the deceased; that the contradictions in the three key prosecution witnesses cast heavy doubt on guilt of the appellants and finally that the case of the prosecution was not proved by the prosecution and therefore, that the decision of the trial court which found the appellants guilty of murder of the deceased was against the weight of evidence adduced at the trial.

Christopher Okolie, a former student of the Federal Technical College, Ilesha was arrested in 2000 when he was accused of committing murder while he was involved in an altercation with a few of his neighbours pertaining to a Discman player. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death in March, 2006.

Following the appeal against his conviction and sentence by LEDAP, a panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal, Lagos on February 7, 2011, quashed his conviction and ordered a retrial, but this was not enforced and LEDAP filed an application for a discharge before Justice O. Taiwo, thus enabling the young man to regain his freedom after 14 years in prison. With tears of joy in his eyes, Okolie, who has a good command of English Language, attributed his being alive to the grace of God. His constant phrase was “Death row is a hard place; it’s the grace of God one needs to survive there.”

Olatunji Olaide, a 56-year-old man who went to prison in the early 30’s. He was arrested for armed robbery in 1988 and sentenced to death but the Court of Appeal; Lagos exonerated him in 2012, saying there was no basis for his arrest at all.

Gullible return

At the time of his release, his life was already wasted after 24years in prison. He was deeply ill and partially lost his sight. He died after few months of his release.

Monday Prosper, was arrested in 2005 for stealing his salary. He was aged 18 years and was a driver. His master refused to pay him for three months and one day he stopped the car, poured sand on his master’s face and absconded with his bag of money from which he counted out his salary and returned the balance to his master.

His gullible return turned into his arrest and the beginning of his ordeal. He was charged with armed robbery of his salary, convicted and sentenced to death in 2008. On our appeal, the court of appeal in Benin only last year exonerated him.

He is still in prison as a result of corruption in the system- officials demanding for money to process his release paper. That is the bane of the poor in conflict with justice system.