Alleged homicide: Court adjourns ruling in bail application

An FCT High Court, Kubwa, has adjourned for ruling in the bail application filed by Via Isaac, charged with alleged murder of his wife.

The Attorney-General of the Federation charged Isaac on one count for allegedly beating his wife to death.

Justice Kezziah Ogbonnaya, however, adjourned the matter following a bail application made by the defence counsel, Ugochukwu Njoku.

The judge said a date would be set and communicated to all the counsel in the matter.

Njoku moved a motion for an order granting bail to the defendant, due to unnecessary delay from the prosecution counsel, Onyeka Ohakwe.

He said the application was supported by a 20 paragraph affidavit with a written address and urged the court to grant bail.

In response, Ohakwe said she filed a 23 paragraph counter affidavit and relied on all the paragraphs with a written address attached and adopt same as her oral argument.

She however urged the court to dismiss the defence counsel's application and rule in her favour.

The defence counsel urged the court to divulge on issues of facts based on the records of the court adding that the prosecution made no counter argument.

He relied on Section 161 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) which states that a defendant is entitled to bail if there is an extraordinary delay.

He said Section 165 relied on by the prosecution deals with the conditions for bail and not the entitlement for bail adding that the case had lingered for seven years.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the prosecution counsel alleged that the defendant caused the death of his wife Christiana Igbetar by beating her.

She alleged that Igbetar fell to the ground, resulting in her death at Sakpo, Abaji, Abuja on Nov.11, 2014, adding that the offence was punishable under Section 221(b) of the Penal Code.