A Lagos
State Magistrate’s Court sitting at Ebute-Meta has ordered the remand of two
men, Adedoyin Oyekanmi, 23; and Erinmole Adetokunbo, 26; for allegedly
beheading
a seven-year-old boy, Kazeem Rabiu.
The magistrate, Mrs. O.A. Fowowe-Erusiafe,
said the two defendants should be remanded in custody pending the release of
legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Oyekanmi and Adetokunbo,
a pastor, had lured the boy from his parents’ house on Sotunyo Street to the church’s premises on Oke-Oniburokun
Street, Odokekere, Ikorodu.
They were said to have beheaded him and buried
the head around the church’s altar, while the body was kept in a canal.
Adetokunbo
was later apprehended by residents.
He was said
to have confessed to the crime, naming Oyekanmi as his accomplice.
The duo
reportedly led detectives to the church,
where the victim’s remains were recovered.
A mob was
said to have destroyed the church and asked the police to release the suspects
to them for jungle justice.
The suspects
were later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence
Department, Yaba.
The police,
at the end of investigation, arraigned the two men on Thursday on three counts
of murder.
The charges
read in part, “That you, Adedoyin Oyekanmi and Erinmole Adetokunbo, on June 7,
2017, at about 2pm on Oke-Oniburokun Street, Odokekere, Ikorodu, Lagos, in the
Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony, to
wit: murder, thereby committing an offence.
“That you,
on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district,
did kill one Kazeem Rabiu, aged seven, by cutting off his head with a cutlass,
thereby committing an offence.
“That you,
without lawful justification or excuse, dismembered the remains of one Kazeem
Rafiu, aged seven.”
The police
prosecutor, Sergeant Maria Dauda, said the offences were punishable under
sections 233, 223 and 165 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
The defendants’ pleas were not taken, just as
they were not represented by any counsel.
The prosecutor filed an application for their
remand in prison, citing Section 264 of the Administration of Criminal Justice
Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
The magistrate remanded them in prison and
adjourned the case till July 24, 2017.
PUNCH.
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