Drunken motorcyclist in court for killing woman

The victim
| credits: Afeez Hanafi

A commercial motorcyclist popularly called okada rider, Solomon Eni, has been arraigned before an Ojokoro Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ikeja for allegedly causing the death of a woman.

Twenty-five-year old Eni was said to be taking the unidentified woman, said to be to in her 30s, to the Jankara Junction bus stop in the Ijaiye area of Lagos around 9.30pm on June 27 when the accident occurred on Clem Road.

It was learnt that Eni rode on top speed, overtaking vehicles indiscriminately. He reportedly veered off the road and rammed into the fence of a transformer while trying to overtake a car.

The woman was said to have been thrown from the okada and smashed her head on the fence. She reportedly died on the way to a hospital where she was rushed to.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the deceased’s family, as of Sunday, had yet to be reached as her mobile phone was reportedly stolen at the scene of the incident.

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Our correspondent was told that the rider, who confessed to the police to have taken a local gin shortly before the incident, was reeking of alcohol when he was arrested.

Eni told the police that the driver of the car forced him off the road.

He said, “I was going to Kola from Alakuko when the woman stopped me. We passed through Clem Road on our way to Jankara Junction where she was going to.

“I was on top speed when a vehicle overtook me. I marched break and I was forced to ram into the fence of a transformer. I didn’t know what happened again until the following day when I found myself at the police station.

“I just took hot Sabri (local gin) that day. I know I am not supposed to drink and ride. I regret my action.”

A police prosecutor, ASP Lugard Ahonle, brought the suspect before a chief magistrate, Mrs. T. Akani, on five counts bordering on reckless riding, manslaughter and riding without licence.

The offences, according to the police, are punishable under sections 3 (2); 7 (1);18, Cap 548, Vol. 7; 27, Cap 548; and 33, Cap 124, Vol. 6, of the Road Traffic Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2012.

The charges read in part, “That you, Solomon Eni, on June 27, 2015, at about 21.35hrs on Clem Road, Ijaiye, in the Lagos Magisterial District, being the rider of a motorcycle with registration number, JGD 129 WY, did ride same in a dangerous and reckless manner on the highway without due care for other road users.

“That you on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did ride the said motorcycle in a dangerous and reckless manner, causing the death of a woman, whose name and address have yet to be known.

“That you rode the motorcycle on the public highway without licence and certificate of insurance.”

The defendant owned up to four of the charges.

He however pleaded not guilty to the second count, which accused him of causing the death of the woman.

The magistrate adjourned the case till July 30, 2015 for hearing and sentencing.