Ikeja High Court Justice Hakeem Oshodi has asked the people to stop leaving charms in the courtroom.
On Monday, as the trial of the five men accused of killing Ifeanyi Etunmuse began, Justice Oshodi issued the warning.
Charms are not allowed in my courtroom. This ought not to happen again. He added, “After the last postponed date in the murder case, a talisman was found.”
The judge, referring to the charm as ‘property,’ admonished the courtroom crowd, “Do not leave your stuff here again. It’s stopped being effective.”
Atunrase Omolabi, Shittu Olawale, Olaide Opeifa, Olanrewaju Adebiyi nicknamed Maja, and Jamiu Omosanya aka Orobo have been charged, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
They were arrested at Western Funeral Home in Ijede Ikorodu on charges of murder and attempted murder of Ifeanyi Etunmuse.
A prosecution witness named Babatunde Olayinka was being cross-examined by defense lawyers earlier in the trial.
Olanrewaju Ajanaku, the main defense counsel to the first, second, and third defendants and later on the fifth defendant, asked Olayinka if he could say that the defendants had a hand in the attack on the deceased.
Oluwatosin Onamade, a local politician and burial services entrepreneur, was asked if he was able to see his complex from his hiding position after the claimed attack.
The witness testified that on the day of the occurrence, April 16, 2021, he noticed a group of guys carrying machetes at the Onamade compound and that he hid in the cemetery and lay down for a time to avoid being discovered.
The witness went on to tell the court that he turned around as he was hiding from the men with machetes and spotted a body alongside him.
Ajanaku asked the witness: “Can you say emphatically that the first, second, third and fifth defendant had anything to do with the body you saw?”
The witness responded that he could not definitively rule out the possibility of the defendants’ involvement with the body.
Defense attorney Mahmud Adesina, representing the fourth defendant, resumed his cross-examination of the prosecution witness by asking whether or not the witness had testified earlier that Femi Onamade, a relative of Oluwatosin Onamade, was the one who knew the defendants in person.
According to Olayinka, Oluwatosin is the one who can positively identify the accused, while Femi is the one who knows them.
Mr. M. T. Adewoye, the prosecution’s attorney, re-examined the witness and urged him to elaborate on his prior testimony that he was unable to identify the defendants.
When asked by the court if he had seen the men with machetes when they entered the premises, Olayinka said he had.
Adewoye asked the judge to issue a summons for Femi Onamade to testify.
Femi Onamade was then served with a witness summons by the judge.
The court has set the next trial date for February 19, 2024.
On April 6, the prosecution claimed in court that the suspects had also severed the wrist of Tosin Onamade’s younger brother, Femi Onamade. (NAN
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