/
-Under cross-examination by the defence_counsel PW I conceded that the
official time for locking the gate of their _premises 1s abo_ut 1Opm but he comes
back to the compound at about 7 pm daily. He confirmed that the compound
has two gates .
PW 1 maintained that in the course of interrogation of the Defendant, one
Izuchukwu said that he called the Defendant around 1:00am to open the gate for
him and not l 0pm as st{ggested by the defence counsel. He maintained that
Defendant opened the gate at the said 1:00am and Izuchukwu came in with his
motorcycle but it was in the morning around 6:00am that they discovered the
missing items .
q1e
PW l conceded that the alleged call by their landlady to the Defendant
was before l :00am but added that he was not present when the call was
allegedly made. He agreed that nobody saw the Defendant removing any item
from ~he compound. However PWl insisted that he did not see the padlock to
the small gate which the Defendant said was cut and that he did not know who
alerted the tenants over the missing items .
PW2 was one Sgt. Willie Udeme - Force No . 446375 attached to SARS
Nnewi . His version was that on 14/10/2014, a case of burglary and stealing was
rep01ied to his office for investigation by one ,Paul Okafor and Okechukwu
Chijioke against the Defendant .
1
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PW2 recorded statements from the two complainants and the Defendant
was subsequerftly rearrested, charged and cautioned. PW2 stated that the
. Defendant made two confessional statements on 17/10/2014. However the first
statement was attested to by the S.P.O. though not countersigned by PW2 . It
should be noted at this point, ·atrial within trial was conducted to detennine the
voluntariness of the said confessional statements. It was found by the court to
be involuntary and was therefore rejected. PW2 wrote police investigation
Report. A copy the said police investigation Report was admitted and marked
as Exhibit Pl . However it was noted by the court that the said Report was not
signed.
Under cross-examination, PW2 conceded that the motorcycle handed
over to the police was not recovered at the scene of the crime. He however
admitted that two motorcycles belonging to the two complainants were
allegedly stolen. He confirmed that the motorcycle found along Amukor road
belonged to one of the complainants, Chijioke and was released on bond to him.
H~ confirmed that it was only the two complainants that he in ·
to their
office and that none of them told him that they witnessed the,~D
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