Yewande Oyeniran, Ibadan-based lawyer who allegedly killed
her husband, Lowo Oyeniran, at their Akobo, Ibadan residence on February 2,
2016 re-appeared at the Chief Magistrate Court, Iyaganku today but was shortly
after returned to Agodi Prison from where she was brought.
The Chief Magistrate Court was told during the session that
Oyo State’s Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) has given a legal advice
that the case involving the accused be transferred to the state High Court.
Amos Adewale, the police officer investigating the death of
Lowo and the involvement of the estranged wife, informed the Chief Magistrate
in charge of the case, Mrs. Kehinde Durosaro-Tijani when the case was
mentioned, that based on the legal advice from the DPP, the Magistrate court
lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
Consequently, at the end of the short proceeding, Chief
Magistrate Kehinde Durosaro-Tijani adjourned till March 1, 2016 and Yewande was
taken back to Agodi prison in a prison van with number plate PS 638 A01.
Yewande had earlier in the day been brought into the
courtroom with her face covered with a veil, a development which infuriated
family members of the deceased and their lawyer, Kehinde Adesiyan.
Oluseun Abimbola, counsel to the accused however saw nothing
wrong in Yewande’s covering her face with a veil saying he had the right to
protect his client by covering her face.
He said: “As you
observed, the proceeding today was just for mention, basically for the
prosecution to report the state of legal advice from the state to the court.
That was what they did. There was no
complaint (from Adesiyan) about the covering of Yewande’s face in court. Maybe
it’s a personal opinion of the individual. It is not wrong to cover one’s face
in court.”
But Adesiyan, while stating his objection to the protection
offered the accused, remarked that since the court lacked the jurisdiction to
hear the case, there was no point bringing the issue up during the five minute
period that the sitting lasted.
Adesiyan who noted although an accused person could be
protected for fear of being molested by the public, it was wrong to shield the
accused face in the court just as he likened Yewande's veiled appearance in
court to a masquerade appearing before the court.
Adesiyan said: “What happened in court today is that the
accused person was presented as a routine to the court that lacks the
jurisdiction to hear the case. The case has been adjourned but we have been
authoritatively informed that information has been filed before the court that
has the jurisdiction to hear the case, which is the High Court. The matter is
commencing tomorrow (today).
“The covering of Yewande’s face is unknown to law. It is
alien to our jurisprudence. It is just like a masquerade appearing before a
court. A masquerade is not a juristic person before the court. We did not raise
the eyebrow on this today because we know that the court lacks the jurisdiction
to hear the case. When we get to the High Court, I am sure she will not be able
to do that."
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