A mild drama played out last Friday in Onitsha
Magistrate Court 3 when three monkeys and its owners, Mohammed
Garuba, 22, Dauda Usman, 25 and Nurah Mohammed, 22 were arraigned on a two-count
charge of conspiracy and robbery.
Court proceedings were momentarily halted as the
courtroom was thrown into confusion and uncontrollable laughter when the case
was mentioned and the giant monkeys and their handlers were docked.
The three men and their monkeys were alleged to have
robbed a senior police officer (names withheld) attached to Zone 6 Calabar, who
was on transit. According to the
prosecutor, the police officer was traveling when he ran short of cash and went
to one of the banks in Onitsha to make some withdrawals. After the transaction, he was said to have
run into the people doing monkey magic, who had been accused of robbing
unsuspecting members of the public with their wild animals in the past.
When the case was called, the police prosecutor, Sgt
Everest Chike attached to SARS Awkuzu appeared for prosecution, while a counsel
announced his appearance for the accused persons and the monkeys.
The prosecution told the court after they had taken
plea that the crime was committed against the state around Upper Iweka, Onitsha
when the accused, on the pretence of show display, commanded the wild animals
and they forcefully pounced on the senior police officer, tore his pocket
and robbed him of N50, 000.
After the robbery, the monkeys, acting like being
tele- guided, threw the money to one of the owners, who immediately ran away
from the scene and is now at large.
The defence counsel faulted the charge, stating that
the charge was only to intimidate his clients, even as he argued that the
charge that brought both human beings and wild animals before the court was
inconsistent.
The counsel went further to pray the court to strike
out the case on the ground that the complainant was not in court and had told
him that he was no longer interested but when the prosecution replied him from
the point of law, the court, after viewing the matter critically, asked the
counsel to seek for the bail of the defendants.
Sgt Chike told the court that the victim was ever
ready to come up with his evidence even as he urged the court to temper justice
with mercy in giving the bail condition, his appeal was to enable the
defendants meet up with the bail condition so that their monkeys could be
released unbound to them for safe keep since there was no zoo in the state to
shepherd the monkeys by the police.
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