Mr. Jubril Rasheed
The Department of Public Prosecution in the Ogun State Ministry of Justice has said that it relied on the report presented by the state police command before advising the court that the trigger-happy policeman, Mr. Gbenga Fashola, who shot a 23-year-old man, Mr. Jubril Rasheed, had no case to answer.
Besides, it said the police did not inform the department that Fashola had been found guilty and dismissed after an orderly room trial was conducted.
The state‘s Deputy Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Olaotan Olusegun, told PUNCH METRO in Abeokuta on Thursday that the department could not be blamed for advising the court that Fashola had no case to answer when the police report indicated that Jubril was a victim of accidental discharge.
Olusegun said, “The ministry had in the past prosecuted police officers, who had gone outside their call of duties to do criminal things, even up to the Supreme Court and we got them convicted with sentences confirmed.
“This is one of such cases and usually what we do is to rely on information sent by the police to give legal advice. We got the case file and reviewed it and it was apparent that the victim from the case file tried to obstruct the arrest of his brother, Faruk Rasheed, and in the process reinforcement was sent for and that was when the suspect Fashola came in.
“From the available evidence before us, we heard that when the victim was being taken to the police station, he jumped down from the bike and tried to escape and the policeman pursued him. The fact in the police file revealed that Fashola fell down and his rifle released some gunshots, which injured Jubril.
Olusegun insisted that the fact presented before the department by the police was that it was a case of accidental discharge that occurred in the process of pursuing a fleeing suspect.
The deputy director, who went through the case file submitted by the police while speaking with our correspondent, attributed the decision of the department to the content of the case file.
Responding to our correspondent‘s enquiry on why the department said Fashola had no case to answer when it was established that he had been given an orderly room trial and dismissed by the police authorities, he said the police did not disclose the verdict of the trial.
“Unfortunately, we do not have the information that an orderly room trial was earlier conducted and that the policeman had been dismissed. The police did not disclose this to us”, Olusegun stated.
But Jubril said he neither resisted arrest nor tried to escape as stated in the report submitted to the DPP.
He said, ”The police lied in order to ruin my life. I neither resisted the arrest of my brother nor attempted to run away at the police station. This is news to me. I have heard series of lies from Fashola. He is just trying to cover his wicked deed and this is just one of those attempts.
“This is a proper case of injustice and an attempt to take advantage of our poverty state to deny us of justice. Whenever I hear about all these lies, I feel more sadden over my fate and the desperate efforts being made to deny me justice.”
Fashola, who was attached to Sabo Police Station, Abeokuta, Ogun State, had on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, allegedly dragged Jubril, to the police station and shot him twice over an allegation that Jubril‘s elder brother was having an affair with a hairdresser apprentice who is well known to him (Fashola).
The bullets pierced through Jubril’s buttocks and affected his scrotum.
Source:Punch
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