23rd September, 2013
A mild drama was enacted at the Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates’ Court, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Monday, as an accused refused to go back to prison custody, after hearing in the suit filed against him by the police.
The accused, Sunny Mac-Peters, 28, a businessman from Kuchingoro Village, Abuja, told the court that he would not go back to prison custody, until his trial was concluded.
Mac-Peters went berserk after the Senior Magistrate, Mrs Grace Adebayo adjourned the matter.
He broke the windows of the court room and resisted attempts by warders to return him to prison.
It took the combined efforts of the five warders and three policemen in court to drag the accused out of the court room.
Even so, Mac-Peters refused to board the prison van that brought him to court, shouting that he was innocent.
“I have been in prison custody for over three months because the case has been lingering and the police have failed to come up with the evidence to continue the case.
“I am a businessman and was in my cashew plantation when the police came and arrested me, I am innocent,’’ he shouted outside the court room.
The accused was first arraigned on 20 June, over allegation of belonging to a gang of thieves, thereby contravening section 306 of the Penal code.
On his first arraignment, the police prosecutor, Insp. Jeremiah Elijah, said that on June 18, at about 10:15 p.m., a team of policemen attached to the Divisional Police Headquarters, Lugbe arrested the accused person.
He told the court that the accused was arrested in a cashew plantation in Kuchingoro village after he attended a meeting with the gang, where they planned to carry out criminal activities.
The prosecutor told the court that when the accused was questioned, he was unable to give a satisfactory account of himself.
The accused was granted bail on his first arraignment but was unable to meet the bail conditions, which included producing a traditional ruler as surety and N500,000 bail bond, among others.