Alleged rape of corps member: Osun monarch placed under house arrest after dramatic appearance in court

 

THE appearance in court yesterday of the Alowa of Ilowa-Ijesha, Oba Adebukola Alli, ended with Magistrate Adewunmi Makanjuola placing him under house arrest.



The judge also ruled that the travelling documents of the accused, who was supported to step into the court room by his wife and driver, be submitted to the court with immediate effect.
The court at its sitting two Fridays ago ordered that the accused, who had failed to come to court for four consecutive sittings, be arrested or in the alternative his surety be brought to court on Friday June 24, 2011.

The Alowa of Ilowa-Ijesha in Obokun Local Government Area, Osun State, accompanied by his wife and pastor, was yesterday brought into court in his green RAV 4 Toyota SUV car.
Claiming not to be strong enough because of his poor health, the monarch lay on a sofa in the court room while his wife fanned him with a scarf.
The monarch also came to court with a blood pressure machine to convince the judge of his health condition.
At a stage, the judge stepped out of his seat to where Oba Alli lay and asked the wife where the accused was brought to court from. In tears, the wife replied that he was brought to court from a private hospital in Ibadan, Oyo State, saying the Oba was removed from the hospital because of the arrest order placed on him.
Counsel to the accused monarch, Victor Okpara, presented a medical report signed by one Dr. A.A. Adeyanju from Gold Cross Medical Clinic, a private hospital located at 36, Adeoyo, Oje Road, Ibadan, Oyo State to the court.
Okpara, who said the monarch had been receiving medical treatment from the hospital shortly after he was discharged from the University College Hospital, Ibadan on June 10, told the court that Alli’s previous absence from court was not delibrate but due to his health codition.



But the prosecutor, a senior state counsel, Olufemi Adedokun, urged the court to disregard the medical report presented by the defence counsel because it conflicted with the previous report, which showed that the traditional ruler was discharged from the UCH in sound health.

Culled from : The Nation Newspaper online