Kelechi Kas
Business owners at the popular Ikokwu motor spare parts market on Tuesday shut down business in protest for the release of four men arrested with the murdered mechanic, Chima Ikwunado.
A Port Harcourt Magistrate Court had on Wednesday discharged and acquitted the men popularly referred to as ‘Ikoku four’.
The presiding Magistrate, Chief Magistrate Amadi Nna, struck out the charges against the four Defendants following the advice of Director Public Prosecution, DPP, which exonerated the ‘Ikoku four’ as having no case to answer.
Chief Magistrate Amadi Nna, ruled that the DPP advice shows that the charges against the ‘Ikoku four’ were based on mere suspicion, as mere suspicion is not an offence in law.
Director of Public Prosecution, Ibiene Mbano, told our correspondent, Tina Amanda, that the Prosecution decided to discharge the matter in their legal advice because the case is not what they can prosecute.
“The charges were based on mere suspicion and unfounded evidence, it is not a matter that we will be able to prosecute, as a result, we decided to discharge them in our legal advice, that is the position of the Prosecution”
Also speaking, Morrison Opue, Counsel to the Defendants said Justice has taken its course, stressing that his clients still have options to enforce their fundamental right against the police.
“Today the popular ‘Ikoku four’ were discharged, reasons being that the DPP advise exonerated all of them. It shows that the offence in which they were charged was never committed by them, the Police just brutalized them for nothing. And Justice has been served, because the purported confession of some of the Defendants, we know, where forcefully gotten from them.
“I want to say that no evil deed can go unpunished. The brutalization of the popular ‘Ikoku four is one that all well-meaning individuals, societies must condemn. So many options are open to them to either enforce their fundamental right against the police. They can write a petition against the police officers that brutalized them so that those officers can be investigated if possible prosecuted”
Recall that the Ikoku four were arrested alongside late Chima Ikwunado and were earlier arraigned before a Magistrate court which earlier declined jurisdiction and referred the case file to Director Public Prosecution for advice.
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo had also accused some magistrates of conniving with some policemen and police command to subvert justice within the judiciary.
Mazi Felix Chikwendu Onuma, the publicity secretary of Ohaneze Ndigbo said that the judicial system in rivers state is too slow and they believe that the E crack team and the police were working hand in hand with some kind of magistrate court that they want to go without jurisdiction on a certain matter.
He said a matter like the four other mechanics that were charged to magistrate court ought not to been taken to a magistrate court.
According to him, the magistrate that entertained the matter ought to have rejected the matter and asked the police to take them to a proper court for these boys to have been granted bail immediately but the magistrate court with the police entertained the case without lawyers representing them and still charged them to prison custody.
He said in the said charge sheet sent to the magistrate court the police said one was at large with the name of Chima who had died in prison cell as being at large,
He said that Ohaneze is still pained that up till this moment they can not gain access to the body of late Chima, adding that the police said his body is at the mortuary.
