“How gateman narrowly escaped death sentence for buying second hand generator” – Lawyer
On the dangers of buying second hand phones and items, a Nigerian lawyer has detailed how a man was wrongly sentenced to death for buying a second hand generator.
The economic situation in the country pushes citizens to buy second hand items at a more affordable price than brand new.
The lawyer, Ehi Akpata (esq.), while highlighting the flaws in the police system, shared his client’s lucky escape.
Akpata said his client, Haruna, a Northerner, was working as a gateman in Benin and someone approached him offering a small generator for sale.
They agreed on N7,000 and the generator was delivered in a sack the next day.
“A few days later policemen came along with the young man (who had been well beaten) and arrested Haruna. All his explanations that he didn’t know it was stolen fell on deaf ears. He was taken to the State CID where he was well tortured,” Akpata said.
“It was at the State CID that he discovered that the generator was the product of an armed robbery operation. The Policemen wanted to extract a confession from him that he was part of the robbery.
“After some serious torture (you needed to have seen his body) he confessed and he was charged to Court. When we came into the matter it was clear his confession was involuntary as his wounds we still fresh.
“We were able to get his confession thrown out for being made involuntarily.”
Yesterday @segalink advised that we stay away from buying used phones. I totally endorse that advice. Today i will share how a client was sentenced to death for buying a stolen generator. This is a true story.#thread.
— Ehi Woods. (@mcspella) October 21, 2018
The case, however, didn’t go as expected. Haruna was convicted and sentenced to death for robbery.
“In sentencing Haruna he relied on Sec. 167(a) of the Evidence Act that as he was in possession of stolen goods soon after the robbery he must have been part of the robbery. This was even though he explained the circumstances surrounding how he got the generator,” Akpata said.
An appeal was filed on behalf of Haruna pro bono and the Appeal Court unanimously upheld the lawyers’ arguments.
“Haruna had explained how he got the generator and they wondered why the trial Judge still convicted him. So Haruna was free to go.
“Bear it in that he was charged and convicted for armed robbery which carries the death penalty and not for receiving stolen goods which carries a few years imprisonment. The problem started from the shoddy police investigation and the charge.
“There is so much wrong with our criminal justice system. Starting from our very ignorant and dubious police force,” Akpata said, while advising that citizens steer clear of fairly used items.
