Two Abuja-based legal practitioners, Emmanuel Onuoha and C.O Adie on Monday in Abuja threw caution to the wind when they pounced and beat up the wife of another lawyer, Mrs Oluwatayo Adeyemi, in court premises in Abuja over a dispute in media coverage of a criminal matter.
The two Lawyers had represented a lawyer, Henry Onyinyechi Nwosu and a Pastor, Jonathan Onuoha, who were arraigned in Court over alleged conspiracy and forgery of documents of a plot of land located at Zone 6, Dutse Alhaji District of Abuja.
The two defendants were docked at the Chief Magistrate Court 1, for allegedly forging documents of the land belonging to a retired Director of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Royson Obijuru.
The criminal charge was filed against them by another Abuja lawyer, Barrister Gbenga Adeyemi, on behalf of the landowner.
However, the two defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read.
Although the prosecution counsel, Olaolu Alao, opposed their bail, Chief Magistrate Muinat Folasade Oyekan admitted them to bail on various terms and conditions.
Trouble, however, erupted when Onuoha, counsel to Pastor Jonathan Onuoha, sighted the presence of media men on the court premises and challenged them on their audacity to cover his client’s arraignment without his approval.
The media men, in response, stood their ground that they did not need his approval before doing their jobs.
Onuoha, in anger, rained abuses on the Journalists with a threat to deal with them, but the media men stood their ground.
Suspecting that the nominal complainant might be responsible for the presence of media men, the two angry lawyers descended on a woman. They dealt several blows to her face leading to injuries and bleeding.
The woman was later identified as Mrs Oluwatayo Adeyemi. The wife of the nominal complainant, Barrister Gbenga Adeyemi, filed criminal charges against the two defendants on behalf of his Imo-based client. The battered woman was moved to Zone 3 Divisional Police Station and was taken to Wuse General Hospital for treatment.
At the time of this report, the two lawyers are still detained at the Police Station. Meanwhile, the Court has fixed June 7 for hearing all pending motions regarding the charge and continuation of trial.
Culled from; https://legalattorneyblog.com/lawyers-wife-beaten-in-court-over-media-coverage/