Lukman Olabiyi
A Lagos based legal practitioner, Kole Bello, and three others who were prosecuted by the Lagos State Government for allegedly selling a dead woman’s property have been discharged and acquitted.
The defendants who were docked before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo,of an Ikeja High Court, were set freed by the court on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove his case against the defendants.
Bello was tried alongside three others, Chukwu Victor, Friday Palmer and Osumah Terry, for allegedly selling a landed property in Lekki, belonging to late Mrs Francisca Awolaja.
They were docked on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, fraud and forgery filed against them by the state government in October 2017.In the charge ,Bello and others were alleged to had forged a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) with reference no. 63/63/1989, dated September 28,1989, of landed property in Lekki, belonging to late Mrs Francisca Awolaja.
The defendants were also accused of impersonating the late Awolaja in order to fraudulently sell her land to Mr Rotimi Olubeko ,for N5 million. The defendants however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
During the trial, prosecution called five witnesses to testify against the defendants while the accused testified for themselves in proving their innocence.
Delivering judgment, Justice Taiwo, held that the defendants only acted in their professional capacities in the sale of the property in question.
The Court held that in the case before it which was against the defendants ,neither the lawyer nor the three others defendants conspired with the so called acclaimed owner of the land which was not before the court in the sale of the land.
“it is very clear that the document (C of O) used for the sale of the land was forged, but the prosecution failed to prove cases of forgery, conspiracy and fraud pressed against the defendants, from the evidences and exhibits before the court, it only shows that all the defendants acted in the various professional capacities in facilitating the sale of the land in question, so therefore, I hereby discharge and acquit them”, the court ruled.