Synagogue building collapse: Court remands engineers
(Nigeria) The two engineers, who constructed the collapsed
seven-storey guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Akinbela Fatiregun and Oladele Ogundeji, have
been ordered to o remain in Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, Lagos till May 3, by a Lagos
State High Court sitting in Ikeja.
Trial judge, Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo gave the order in a
ruling on their bail applications on Tuesday.
``Ruling is preserved for Tuesday, May 3, 2016,"
Lawal-Akapo told a crowded courtroom.
The engineers were on April 26 ordered to be remanded in
Kirikiri Prisons by Lawal-Akapo following their `not guilty’ plea to a
111-count charge bordering on gross negligence and criminal manslaughter.
Earlier during Tuesday's proceedings, counsel to Fatiregun,
Mrs Titi Akinlawon, SAN, in her submission before the court, promised that the
defendants would not jump bail.
``The fifth defendant has been charged before at the
Magistrates’ Court and he did not jump bail; he presented himself at all times.
Prior to when he was granted bail by the magistrates’ court, he was granted
police bail and he always presented himself.
``Since the entire essence of remand is for the defendant
not to jump bail, the defendant going by his antecedents, has proven himself to
be honourable by not jumping bail on previous occasions," Akinlawon said.
Mr Olalekan Ojo, counsel to Ogundeji in his application
before the court, said Ogundeji needed to be on bail in order to build his
defence.
He said: “The case of the prosecution is founded on gross
negligence, it will collapse or succeed on the strength of experts’ opinion and
it is not pertinent for anyone to state the evidence is overwhelming on
technical issues.
``Because of the technical nature of the evidence, there is
need for the fourth defendant to be on bail to liaise with experts to build his
defence. He cannot do this while on remand at the Kirikiri Maximum
Prisons."
However, the prosecution led by Mrs Idowu Alakija, the State
Director of Public Prosecutions, noted that the court was not obliged to grant
bail to the engineers.
She said: ``The granting of bail is not mandatory, this
court has the discretion to grant bail; but in so doing, it has to look at the
facts before it. My Lord, both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal had in
an avalanche of cases held that a court needs not restrict itself to matters in
the affidavit, but the proofs presented in court.
``We have emphasised that Oladele Ogundeji has no address
within the jurisdiction of the court. If this court is to grant bail, I urge
the court to grant accelerated hearing without delay because we have had too
many delays caused by applications presented by the defence in this case.’’
The collapse of the
guest house on September 12, 2014 led to the deaths of 116 persons, 85 of who
were South Africans.
The Coroner's Inquest instituted by the Lagos State
Government had in its verdict on July 8, 2015, said the building collapse was
caused by structural failure due to a combination of designs and detailing
errors.
The coroner ordered that Synagogue church should be
investigated and proceeded against by the relevant authorities for not
possessing necessary building permits while the two engineers involved in the
construction of the building should be tried for criminal negligence.
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