UNIPORT ALUU 4 MURDER TRIAL BEGINS : FIRST ACCUSED ADMITS TO WRITTEN STATEMENT.

The first accused person standing trial for the murder of four undergraduate students of University of Port Harcourt, at Umuokiri-Aluu in Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State, Mr Segun Lawal, yesterday, admitted that the information contained in the statement tendered by police to be his written statement when he was arrested was correct.

Lawal, who made the admission during cross-examination, told the court that he admitted to have given the information after the police played the video clip showing that he participated in the incident.

The accused person, who was inconsistent during his trial, further told the court that he was tortured by the police while in detention during which he sustained various degrees of injuries, and that he did not receive any medical treatment when he was sent to prison as required by law. The trial of Lawal came after the judge ordered a trial within trial of his statement, during a ruling earlier delivered before proceedings commenced. The ruling was necessitated by an objection raised by counsel to Lawal, Barr Joseph Kehinde, on the last adjourned day in December, arguing that his client signed his statement under duress.
In delivering the ruling, the trial judge, Justice Letam Nyordee, held that when an accused person makes an extra-judicial statement and goes ahead to say it was made under duress, then there is the need for a trial within trial, pointing out that it is the voluntariness that calls to question.
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