Facts
In December 2007, the Respondent (as 2nd accused person) and a gang of armed robbers, were alleged to have robbed a commercial bus along Jebba/Bode Sa’adu Road in Kwara State. A certain Bode Samson was robbed along with other passengers in the bus of his mobile phone. About a month after the incident, a certain Bunu Jaja (1st accused person) took the stolen handset to a certain Oloye Ajayi (PW 5) to assist him with purchase of sim card and recharge the handset.
PW 5, upon checking the phone, discovered that there was a sim in it. He removed the sim and dialed some numbers on it. One of the contacts confirmed that he knows the owner of the sim and that he was robbed of his phone earlier. Upon hearing this, PW 5 sent someone to inform the Police, who came and arrested the 1st accused person in PW 5’s shop. The 1st accused person informed the Police that he bought the phone from one Hassan. The police sent for the owner of the phone (PW 3) and the driver of the bus (PW 4); while they led the 1st accused person to arrest the said Hassan. Immediately Hassan saw the Police, he opened fire and attempted to run away. He was shot together with another accused person and they both died instantly. The Respondent was arrested and taken to the police station. Following his arrest, the Respondent denied knowledge of the offence with which he was arrested and pleaded alibi.
