Police Charge Innocent Panel Beater with Armed Robbery, Spends 8 Years in Jail

Femi Ashekun/

A panel beater, who was arrested by a group of soldiers in Lagos in 2014 for reportedly failing to help them intercept some people they were chasing, regained his freedom on Tuesday after spending eight years in custody.

According to Headfort Foundation, a prison reform initiative, which shared his story on Twitter, the innocent victim, identified simply as Ola, was taken to Orile Police Station by the soldiers, from where he was charged to court alongside some armed robbery suspects.

He subsequently spent eight years in prison as an awaiting trial inmate until Headfort Foundation came to his rescue in July this year.

Narrating the victim’s ordeal in a series of tweets via its official handle, @HeadfortF, the foundation wrote:

“Ola was a Panel beater working at Alaba, in Lagos State, Nigeria.

“Sometime in May 2014, Ola was on his way back from work when he saw some people run by him. A few seconds later, soldiers ran after those persons.

“To his dismay, the soldiers returned angrily and questioned why he didn’t stop the persons that ran by him. He explained to the soldiers that he didn’t know them or why they were running and couldn’t just have stopped them from running.

“His response infuriated the soldiers the more and they took him to their base. The senior officer at the Barracks refused to let the soldiers keep him at the Barracks so they took him to the police station and reported that he didn’t prevent the escape of the people they were chasing.

“The Officers at Orile Police Station moved him alongside with other suspects taken to SARS Office Ikeja where he was later charged to Court for the offence of Armed robbery when he couldn’t meet up with bail demands.

“The family members did their best and got him legal representation. After a while, they could no longer afford to pay so the lawyer withdrew his appearance.

“Since 2014, he remained in custody with no lawyer representing him until July 2022 when he got Headfort Foundation’s contact from an inmate and he called to explain his ordeal.

“Our lawyer, Itunuoluwa Awolu, took his brief and traced his case to Lagos State High Court TBS. She began representing him for free.

“On Tuesday, just like every other day in which his case had come up for a trial, there was no witness. The prosecution informed the Court that they intend to call official witnesses who happened to be Police Officers but they are not familiar with the witnesses and do not have their contact details or means of reaching them.

“Ola, who had been languishing in prison since 2014 awaiting trial was immediately released by the Court, and the charges against him were struck out.”

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