One Lucky Okeke, a suspect held for breach of the peace and assault, has allegedly beaten up two policemen who arrested him.
The policemen were identified as corporals Abubakar Hussaini and Yusuf Olaitan.
Okeke had earlier assaulted a resident of Assemblies of God Church Street, Badore, in the Ajah area of Lagos State, Funmi Dayafin, before beating up the policemen.
While Okeke reportedly punched Olaitan in the head, he rained blows on Hussaini’s mouth until blood gushed out.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the cops were part of a police team from the Lamgbasa division that went to the neighbourhood on Monday after receiving complaints from Dayafin that Okeke, his friend, Kelvin Osayande, and others at large operated a smoking joint in the house she also lived in.
Osayande, who has also been arrested, and the complainant are neighbours while Okeke lives nearby.
Our correspondent learnt that two policemen had initially arrested Okeke on that day, but he became violent and beat up the woman for reporting him to the police.
The policemen were said to have called for reinforcement and he was subsequently arrested.
“As he was being taken to the station in a police van, he descended on two of the policemen with fist blows.
“The officers had to persuade him before they got him arrested,” a police source said.
Dayafin, a teacher, said she had cautioned the suspects because her children, who normally play on the premises, might be influenced by the constant smoking, adding that she reported them to the police after her entreaties failed.
She said, “They smoke hemp on the premises early morning when my children leave for their school. They do same in the evening.
“I begged them to stop smoking because my children also complained the smell makes their stomachs rumble. I specifically talked to Lucky (Osayande) to stop inviting his friends to smoke in our compound.
“Three days before they were arrested, they deflated the tyres of my car for reporting them to the police.”
Osayande, who allegedly confessed to the police that he smoked, said her wife’s condition made him smoke on the premises.
He said, “I live downstairs while the woman lives upstairs. Normally, I smoke hemp in my sitting room. But because my wife is now pregnant, I decided to smoke in the compound so that she will not be affected. I wasn’t the one who deflated the tyres.”
Twenty-four-year-old Okeke said, “I didn’t know people who smoke in the compound. Police came to arrest me, which I resisted. I beat the woman and one of the policemen.”
The two suspects were arraigned on Tuesday before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court by a police prosecutor, Inspector Philip Osijale, on four counts bordering on assault and conduct likely to cause breach of the peace.
The charges read in part, “That you, Lucky Okeke, Kelvin Osayande, and two others at large, on October 27, 2016, at about 7am on Assemblies of God Church Street, First Unity Estate, Badore, Ajah, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause breach of the peace by deflating four tyres of Honda City belonging to one Funmi Dayafin, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 166 (d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2011.
“That you, Lucky Okeke, on October 31, 2016, at about 11am, did unlawfully assault coporals Abubakar Hussaini and Yusuf Olaitan while performing their lawful duties by punching them with fist blows and causing them injuries in their mouths, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 172 (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected summary trial.
The presiding magistrate, Mrs. M.B. Folami, granted them bail in the sum of N200,000 with two gainfully employed sureties each in like sum.
Folami said the sureties must be related to the defendants by blood and deposit N25,000 each into the account of the chief registrar pending the completion of the case.
The case was adjourned till December 5, 2016.
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