Suspect escapes with handcuffs on way to court

There was confusion on Wednesday at Tinubu, Lagos Island, after a suspected vandal, Johnson Ede, jumped from a car conveying him and five others to a magistrates’ court in the area.

Ede and other suspects  were arrested for allegedly vandalising water pipes on Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island and for stealing 350 metres of 12mm cables owned by Hitec Construction Company Limited on December 28, 2015.

It was gathered that 32-year-old Ede escaped through the window of the moving car with a pair of handcuffs in his hand.

PUNCH Metro learnt that a woman corporal was taking Ede, whose name appeared as the first defendant on the charge sheet, and the five others to court when the incident happened.

Our correspondent gathered the officer was not assisted in chasing the fleeing suspect when she called for help from passersby.

When the other five suspects were subsequently arraigned before the court a few hours later, she narrated the incident to the presiding magistrate, Mr. L.A. Owolabi, who enquired about the whereabouts of Ede, whose name appeared on the charge sheet as the first defendant.

“The car was moving when he (Ede) jumped from the window and escaped with the handcuffs in his hands. I was shouting for help, but people did not respond. I decided to let him go so that the five others would not escape as well. We were almost at the court when he jumped down. I can’t explain how he managed to escape,” she said.