25th November, 2010
A Lagos bricklayer, Joel Arojo, who had been in prison custody since 2006 over an allegation of killing his wife through abortion, has been set free by a Lagos High Court.
The road to freedom of the detained was sequel to a suit filed on his behalf against the Attorney General of Lagos State and Commissioner of Police, by Olanrewaju Ajanaku of Penacle Solution Chambers.
In an accompanying affidavit sworn to by a legal practitoner, Godwin Ewa, the deponent averred that sometime in 2005, Joel Arojo’s wife, Tawakalitu now deceased, who was living with him, got pregnant after having three children for him.
The deceased then told her husband that the pregnancy should be terminated because she did not want another child, but the husband refused and warned her not to terminate the pregnancy.
When the pregnancy was three and half months, his wife abandoned her matrimonial home with the children and ran to her sister’s house and all efforts to bring her back failed.
However, on 14 March, 2006, his sister in-law approached him to bring money for blood transfusion and it was then that he learnt that his wife had aborted the pregnancy as there was complications, having lost so much blood and needed to be transfused with blood.
The sister in-law who the deceased was staying with could not raise enough money for the blood transfusion in good time and the woman eventually died.
Surprisingly, on 18 March, the applicant’s brother in-law, in company of police, stormed his residence, arrested him and took him to Igando Police Station and later transferred him to State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, consequent upon which he was charged with the killing of his wife and arraigned before a Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court before he has remanded in prison custody pending the Director, Public Prosecutor’s advice.
Although the director’s advice exornorated him, the applicant was not released until this suit was filed.
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