The hearing of a no-case submission in the ongoing trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, charged with the alleged murder of the Super TV Chief Executive Officer, Michael Usifo Ataga, was on Tuesday stalled due to the absence of the third defendant’s counsel.
Chidinma, a 300-level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, is standing trial before the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square.
She is being prosecuted alongside her sister, Chioma Egbuchu and one Adedapo Quadri for the murder of Ataga.
The defendants were arraigned on October 12, 2021, by the Lagos State Government.
Chidinma and Quadri are facing the first to eight counts bordering on conspiracy, murder, and stabbing while her sister, Egbuchu, is facing the ninth count of stealing an iPhone 7 belonging to the late Ataga.
They were alleged to have conspired and murdered Ataga on June 15, 2021, by stabbing him several times with a knife in the neck and chest.
The incident occurred at Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
The prosecution had called 11 witnesses during the trial and closed its case, to enable the defence to open its case.
But instead of the defence opening its case, the second and third defendants filed a no-case submission.
During the prosecution’s case, Chidinma had testified in a trial-within-trial that she was slapped and forced to sign statements written by policemen in the state.
She told Justice Yetunde Adesanya that policemen including Assistant Superintendent of Police, Olusegun Bamidele, and Olufunke Madeyinlo, told her to sign statements against her will.
Chidinma said Bamidele told her to narrate the statement he wrote to the state Commissioner of Police after tearing the statement she wrote.
But on May 4, 2023, Justice Adesanya ruled that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that Chidinma made the statements voluntarily and not under duress.
The judge held, “The videos tendered in court did not display any intimidation towards the defendant while she was writing her statements.
“The voice of the Investigating Police Officer was clear and audible. It did not show any form of intimidation.”
Chidinma had, through her counsel, Mr Onwuka Egwu, alleged that she made the statements under duress, alleging that she was slapped and forced to sign the statements.
However, at the resumed hearing of the no-case submission filed by Chioma Egbuchu and one Adedapo Quadri, the case couldn’t go on as Egbuchu’s counsel, C. J. Jikaponna, was absent from court.
Egbuchu’s counsel sent a letter to the court asking for an adjournment as he went for another matter at the Federal High Court.
The second defendant’s counsel, Babatunde Busari, in his response to the letter told the court that his client’s no-case submission application was ready and that it didn’t concern the third defendant.
Busari said that Quadri’s no-case submission is dated May 5, 2024, and that they received a reply from the prosecution on June 19, 2024.
He told the court that he wished to adopt it.
However, the judge said she could not hear the case since the third defendant’s lawyer was not in court.
Consequently, Justice Adesanya adjourned the case till December 5, 2024, for the hearing of the no-case submission.
