An Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Monday ordered a cobbler, Sulaiman Hassan, to be remanded in Ikoyi Prison for allegedly stabbing his brother-in-law to death with a kitchen knife.
The 18-year-old Hassan, whose address was not provided, is facing a charge of murder.
The court did not take the plea of the accused as he was ordered to be kept behind the bars pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The Magistrate, Mrs Helen Omisore, ruled: “As the court does not have the jurisdiction to prosecute such matters, the accused is to be remanded in prison for the next 30 days pending advice from the office of the State Director of Public Prosecutions.”
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Cousin Adams, told the court that the accused committed the offence on Feb. 27 at about noon at Rimax Estate, Meiran, a suburb of Lagos on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
He alleged that the accused stabbed his brother-in-law, Haruna Arebani, 23, to death with a kitchen knife.
“The accused had accosted the deceased and demanded why his newly wedded wife (the deceased’s sister) was ‘taken’ away from him.
“Arebani had angrily responded that Hassan should make more money to reclaim his wife.
“The statement angered the accused who took a kitchen knife and stabbed the brother-in-law in the stomach and absconded to Ekpoma, where he was apprehended,” Adams said.
The offence contravened Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 which stipulates a death sentence for offenders.
The case was adjourned to April 19.
Source – NAN