A Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin on Monday, has adjourned the case preferred against five robbery suspects, who allegedly took part in the Offa bank robbery, till Friday January 18, 2019 for definite hearing as the prosecution failed to bring witnesses to testify in the case.
The five accused persons brought before the court were; Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Abraham, Salaudeen Azeez and Niyi Ogundiran.
The prosecution charged the accused persons with alleged conspiracy, armed robbery, murder, Culpable Homicide and illegal possession of Fire Arms.
When the case, which was slated for definite hearing today, came up, Mr Jimoh Mumini, Kwara state Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), who stood in for the prosecution, said that the Police could not bring its witnesses to the court.
According to the DPP, “All the witnesses in the robbery case are Policemen who investigated the case and they are all from the Police Headquarters in Abuja. No witness was taken from Offa where the robbery took place and non from Kwara state. ”
Mr Mumini said that all efforts he made to the Police Assistant Inspector General David Igodo, who is in charge of Police investigation, and Mr Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police who led the investigation team to Kwara state, to produce the witnesses in court did not yield any result.
He however, sought for short adjournment for the case from the Court.
The Defence Counsel, Mathias Emeribe did not oppose to the adjournment.
He pleaded with the court to order the prosecution to serve him with the amended charge of the case as well as the Confessional statements of the five accused persons.
In his ruling, the trial Judge, Justice Halimat Salman said that she was adjourning the case till January 18, 2019 because the Police failed to make the witnesses available in court.
She vacated the definite hearing order slated for today and ordered that the Police should send down all the witnesses to Ilorin for the definite hearing of the case on Friday next week, 18th January, 2019.
The Offa bank robbery of 5th April, 2018 in five banks, claimed the life of 33 people including nine Policemen and women while an undisclosed amount of money was carted away from the five banks by the robbers.
