Man arrested for truancy turns out murder suspect

A teenager, Timilehin Agbeyomi, who was arrested after his elder brother reported him to the police for truancy, has been arraigned for alleged murder.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Agbeyomi’s brother had handed him over to the police on January 26, 2016 “to teach him a lesson” for shunning aluminium apprenticeship.

However, upon getting to the Bariga Police Station, a policeman discovered that the 18-year-old was among those wanted by the police in connection with the killing of a 20-year-old man, Imohlede Asije.

Asije was allegedly killed by Agbeyomi and his gang sometime in October, 2015, at a party on Oluwafere Street, Bariga.

It was learnt that during the party, the cult members had brought out their weapons, including guns and machetes, and attacked the deceased.

He was pronounced dead at a hospital in the area.

The police had launched a manhunt for the alleged killers, who included Agbeyomi.

His brother, who was not aware of the pending case, was reported to have led the police to where he was arrested.

Upon his arrest, the case was transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.

Agbeyomi told PUNCH Metro that although he attended the same secondary school with the deceased, he was not part of the squad that killed him.

He said, “I did not kill him. We attended the same secondary school and we were friends. I have known him for a long time. It is true that I am a cult member, but I did not kill him. I belong to the Aiye Confraternity, while he was a member of the Eiye Confraternity. On the day he died, I was at home and did not attend the party where he was killed. I just heard like every other person.

“I am an aluminium apprentice and because of some things, I was not going to work. My elder brother, who was not happy with my behaviour decided to use the police to teach me a lesson. On Tuesday last week, he handed me over to the police and it was while I was there that they brought up this matter.”

A police source, however, said the suspect was lying, adding that it was when he was arrested that he was discovered to be among those involved in the killing.

The police arraigned him on Thursday before an Ebute-Meta Magistrate’s Court on five counts of murder and belonging to an unlawful society.

The charges read in part, “That you, Timilehin Agbeyomi, and others at large, on October 24, 2015, at about 5.30am, on Oluwafere Street, Bariga, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit: murder.

“That you, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did kill one Imohlede Asije, aged 20 years, by shooting him on his stomach and cutting him with a machete on the head.”

The police prosecutor, Sergeant Olatunde Kehinde, said the offences were punishable under sections 231, 221, 409, 41 and 42 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.

Kehinde applied for the remand of the defendant in prison pending the release of legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

The defence counsel, Ola Ogunbiyi, did not oppose the remand application of the police.

The magistrate, Mrs. Bola Folarin-Williams, ordered that he should be remanded in prison for the first 30 days permitted by law.

She asked the police to duplicate the case file and forward same to the DPP for legal advice.

The case was adjourned till March 2, 2016