An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State on Tuesday remanded two men who allegedly robbed a pedestrian of iPhones worth N600,000 and a handbag containing N80, 705, at gunpoint. The defendants, Gideon Eze, 35, and John Akpan, 30, whose residential addresses were not given, were arraigned by the police on a three-count charge of conspiracy, armed robbery and illegal possession of firearms.
The Magistrate, Mrs F. F. George, who remanded the defendants, ordered that the case file should be consolidated with another case file having Emeka Iheanacho, 20, and Onyekachi Nwojo, 27, as defendants. George said that case file should be sent to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice. She noted that Iheanacho and Nwojo were arraigned on Dec. 27, 2018, on same offences. According to the magistrate, the four defendants are standing trial for the same offences allegedly committed at the same place and same time; therefore, the case files should be consolidated.
The court did not take the plea of the defendants. George adjourned the case until April 16 pending the DPP’s advice. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Godwin Awase, had prayed the court to remand Eze and Akpan and consolidate their case file with the other one. He told the court that they committed the alleged offences on Dec. 5, 2018, at 10.00a.m. at Muritala Odofin Plaza, Agungu, Lekki, Lagos.
He said: “The defendants while armed with a locally made revolver pistol, forcefully dispossessed one Ms Nosariere Igiehon of her three iPhones worth N600, 000, a handbag containing N80, 705 and other personal items. “The locally made pistol in the possession of the defendants contained five rounds of live ammunition and one expended ammunition.” The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the alleged offences contravene Sections 297 (2), 299 and 330 (d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
