A Pastor with the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry has been dragged to court along with her three children. For their alleged involvement in the death of a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, Joseph Idehen, the police have arraigned a pastor with the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry, Taiwo Idehen, and her three children, Punch Metro reports.
Taiwo and her children, Samuel, Michael and Ruth, were
arraigned by the Force Criminal and Intelligence Department on charges
of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, stealing, use of false documents
and forgery.
They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The
police alleged that the defendants committed the offences at the
deceased’s residence at No. 5 Odetola Street, off Merit Road, Alagbado,
Lagos, on July 4, 2016.
According to the police, Taiwo, who was
said to have divorced the deceased over 29 years ago, and her three
children, allegedly conspired among themselves to murder the retired
senior police officer in suspicious circumstances.
They were also
alleged to have forged a death certificate from the Ota General
Hospital, Ogun State, which was used in conveying the deceased’s corpse
to Aragba in Delta State.
It was gathered that Michael allegedly
withdrew the sum of N286,000 from the deceased’s account domiciled in
First Bank of Nigeria Limited, while all the defendants were accused of
fraudulently withdrawing the sum of N2.1m from Joseph’s account
domiciled in Zenith Bank Plc.
According to the police prosecutor,
Morufu Animashaun, the offences are contrary to sections 233, 365 (3)
(d), 366 and 287 (5) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria,
2015.
Animashaun told the court that the defendants’ arrest was
predicated on a petition dated August 2016, written to the police by the
Chambers of Milestone Partners, wherein the alleged role played by each
of the defendants in the death of the retired police officer was
stated.
He added that upon receiving the petition, the defendants
were invited for interrogation and they all wrote confessional
statements.
In view of their not guilty plea, Animashaun urged
the court to remand them in prison custody pending the conclusion of the
matter.
The defendants’ lawyer, Kennedy Osunwa, told the court
that he had filed his clients’ bail applications, which had been served
on the prosecutor.
Following the applications of the defendants’
lawyer, the presiding judge, Justice Adedayo Akintoye, adjourned the
matter till January 25, 2019, for the hearing of their bail application.
She
also ordered that all the defendants be remanded in prison custody
pending the hearing and determination of their bail applications.
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