There was a surprise at the Oyo State High Court, Ring Road, Ibadan yesterday when a defence witness testified that a prosecution witnes...
The lawyer, Yewande Oyediran, is standing trial for allegedly stabbing her husband, Lowo, to death on February 2, last year, at their Ibadan home.
Kayode Oloyede, who claimed to be a farmer and a relative of the witness, told the court that the witness, who is the couple’s landlord, told him in private that the incident was the second killing in his house.
Oloyede started his testimony by telling the court that the assertions of the landlord, Chief Adelodun Akinpelu, that he does not know Michael Folorunso Ogunlana, alias Michael Lana, was also false.
He added that both of them are relatives and they are known to each other.
The witness told the court how Akinpelu told him and his younger brother, Michael Lana, about how he swapped the murder weapon.
In his words: “I had a meeting with my younger brother, Michael Lana, sometimes last October and during the meeting there was a certain number calling his phone persistently.
‘’I asked my brother to pick the call and it turned out to be Chief Akinpelu who told him to come over to his house at Idi Odan (Ibadan). I went to his place with my brother in company of one Kanbi.
‘’Chief Akinpelu invited us in. He told Kanbi to wait for us at his wife’s shop, because according to him, we were going to discuss a very important family issue.
‘’Chief Akinpelu later told Michael that he needed his advice over the murder case involving Yewande, who has been charged for murdering her husband.
“When Michael asked what his concern with the matter was, he answered that the couple were his tenants and that the late victim fell down and died on his door steps.
‘’He then told us that when Lowo collapsed on the steps, he changed the knife that was used to stab him and that when the police came for investigations, he gave them a different knife.
‘’Micahel (Lana) scolded him for tampering with evidence and that he ought to have left the knife and allowed the police to find it.
‘’He told my brother that he didn’t want to be a witness in the case and he ( Michael) advised him to tell his lawyer that he was insolvent and won’t be able to pay his way to the court.”
The family’s counsel, Abayomi Alliyu, objected to the accounts of the witness which he referred to as ‘’hearsays’’.
But Justice Muktar Abimbola overruled him and told him that the rules of admissibility support the accounts of the witness as he was recounting an event that happened in his presence.
He had earlier enquired from the prosecuting counsel, S.S. Akinyele, if he objected to the witness’ accounts, to which he responded in the negative.
During cross examination by the prosecutor, the witness told the court that he grew up in the house hold of one Chief Ojo, who was the father of Michael Lana and that he is, his half brother.
He also said that chief Akinpelu did not mention the name of the victim during his discussion with him and his younger brother.
The second defense witness , one James Oluwatuyi of the telecommunication Company, MTN, told the court that his company has been subpoenaed to produce the logs of the calls made and received by MTN nos ..08034107268 and 08033610516, between October and November 2016.
Both the prosecuting and defense counsels claimed that they have not seen the subpoena and the defense counsel, Mr. Leye Adepoju requested for an adjournment till Wednesday, to enable him make available the necessary documents to support the defense’s claims.
Justice Abimbola obliged and adjourned till today.
The Nation
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