A Magistrate Court sitting in Ogba, Lagos State, has discharged and acquitted two defendants in a case involving the alleged theft of electrical wires valued at ₦5 million from the Lagos State Public Works Corporation, while convicting a third defendant on the charge of stealing.
The court, presided over by Magistrate M. O. Joseph, delivered its judgment in the case of Commissioner of Police v. Bakar Mohammed and 2 Others, Charge No. MIK/NA/18/2024.
The defendants, Bakar Mohammed, Sodiq Mohammed and Ibrahim Buke, had faced a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit a felony, to wit, stealing, and stealing.
According to the charge sheet, the alleged offences occurred on October 9, 2024, at the Public Works Corporation compound in the Berger area of Lagos State. The prosecution alleged that the defendants conspired to steal wires belonging to the corporation, valued at ₦5 million.
At the conclusion of the trial, the court found all three defendants not guilty of the conspiracy charge, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish the offence beyond reasonable doubt.
However, on the second count of stealing, the court found the first defendant, Bakar Mohammed, guilty on the basis of the circumstantial evidence against him. The second and third defendants, Sodiq Mohammed and Ibrahim Buke, were found not guilty and were accordingly discharged and acquitted.
The defendants were represented by their counsel, George T. Orebiyi of DNL Partners, who filed a final written address urging the court to discharge and acquit all three defendants on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove the essential elements of the offences charged.
In the final written address, the defence argued that the prosecution had not established any agreement between the defendants to commit stealing, a necessary element of the conspiracy charge. Counsel also submitted that the prosecution’s witnesses did not establish that the second and third defendants participated in the alleged theft.
The defence further challenged the evidence presented by the prosecution, pointing to inconsistencies in the accounts of the witnesses and gaps in the police investigation. In particular, the address highlighted testimony that the witnesses did not see the second and third defendants cutting or removing any wires and that the investigating police officer did not obtain an admission from any of the defendants that they had damaged the trucks or cut the wires.
Counsel urged the court to resolve the doubts arising from the prosecution’s evidence in favour of the defendants, maintaining that the burden of proving the allegations beyond reasonable doubt rested on the prosecution.
Following the conviction of the first defendant on the stealing charge, the defence made an allocutus, pleading with the court to temper justice with mercy on the ground that he was a first-time offender. The first defendant also personally appealed to the court for leniency.
In considering the plea for mercy and the period the first defendant had already spent in custody, the court sentenced him to 10 months’ imprisonment without an option of fine.
The judgment resulted in the acquittal of the second and third defendants on both counts, while the first defendant was acquitted of conspiracy but convicted of stealing.
The case underscores the importance of the prosecution establishing the ingredients of each criminal offence beyond reasonable doubt and the need for evidence linking each defendant individually to the alleged crime.