Uniport 4: Court frees seven suspects

Seven out of the 18 persons including a female, arrested and arraigned in connection with the killing of four students of the University of Port Harcourt, Choba, in October, 2012, were yesterday, discharged by a Port Harcourt Chief Magistrate Court, following the legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
They are Cynthia Chinwo, George Nwadei, Ekpe Daniel, Gabriel Ochie and Endurance Edet (in the first charge), Lucky Agwurum (in the second charge) and Finebone Jeffrey, aka Soso (in the third charge).


The trial Chief Magistrate, Emma Woke, discharged the seven persons after he had read the legal advice dated January 25, before the court. In the DPP’s advice, the lucky seven persons were said to be suspects, who were arrested based on mere suspicion by the police and that no prima facie case of murder contrary to Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code, Cap. 37, Volume 2, Laws of Rivers State, 1999, was disclosed against them.

“It is a trite law that suspicion, no matter how strong, cannot take place of legal proof without concrete evidence to substantiate it, and as such, they were victims of circumstance and, therefore, charging and prosecuting them will be an exercise in futility.”
Similarly, no prima facie case of murder contrary to the abovementioned section was disclosed against seven other persons, who were not charged to court but were granted police bail after their arrest in connection with the matter. “The charge against them should equally be dropped and they be released forthwith from custody.”

The legal advice did not have case of murder against Alhaji Hassan Welewa, Okoghiroh Endurance, Ozioma Abajuo and Chigozie Evans Samuel but their offence was “neglect to prevent a felony,” contrary to Section 515 of the Criminal Code, Cap. 37, Volume 2, Laws of Rivers State, 1999. The trial chief magistrate told the court that Alhaji Welewa and 10 others would face fresh charges by the DPP.

“Your original case file will be retained to enable us file information with proof of evidence for the avoidance of doubt, against Lawal Segun, ex-Sergeant Lucky Orji, Ikechukwu Louis Amadi, aka Kapoon, David Chinasa Ogbada, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe, Abang Cyril, Alhaji Hassan Welewa, Okoghiroh Endurance, Ozioma Abajuo and Chigozie Evans Samuel in the Port Harcourt High Court.” However, the DPP advice had charged the police to intensify efforts to arrest the five suspects still at large.

The accused persons were arraigned in connection with the gruesome murder of Tekena Elkanah, Lloyd Toku Mike, Chiadika Biringa and Ugonna Obuzor, on October 5, 2012, allegedly by Omuokiri, Aluu community, near Uniport.