The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday admitted as exhibit the a statement of one Fatai Isiaka Adeyinka who sold the Mazda car used by Charles Okah the alleged master-mind of the October 1, 2010, in Abuja bombing that killed 12 people.
Adeyinka’s statement was admitted by the trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, despite vehement objections raised by the defence counsel.
The exhibit was tendered through the third federal government witness, Chukwuma Igwe, a staff of the Department of State Security Service who also informed the court that he took Adeyinka’s statement.
Igwe told the court that he was instructed by his boss, Abdul Abubakar, to take the statement when Adeyinka, an illiterate, told them that he could not read and write in English language.
We communicated in pidgin English. “I wrote what he told me in English language in the statement after I cautioned him. I read the content of his statement and interpreted it in pidgin English language to him,” he said.
Igwe further told the court that he took Adeyinka and his statement to Abubakar who also read it and asked him to interpret it in pidgin English which he did before the statement was signed by Adeyinka and himself.
But the defence counsel Ozodiri (SAN) and Otemu who represented Charles Okah and Obi Nwabueze, respectively said that Adeyinka’s statement was not admissible through the witness, because they could not cross examine him on the content of the statement.
In his ruling, Justice Kolawole ruled that the objections raised by the defence had failed to take cognisance of the background and the fact that Igwe was not the maker of the statement but that he recorded it.
“The statement is admissible” and the defence could cross examine the witness on the procedure adopted by him, the judge ruled.
Under cross examination, defence counsel Otemu asked the witness to interpret the word plural used in the statement in pidgin English, the witness said it meant “caution”.
The witness also told the court he did not asked the witness to make the statement in Yoruba language.
Justice Kolawole has adjourned to November 4, for further hearing.
source on Honeyland News