A Children, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Court sitting in Awka has found one Michael Arinze a student of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), not guilty of an alleged rape, armed robbery and other crimes.
Angel Network News (ANN) reports that Michael Arinze who was arrested in 2022 when he was a student, with nine-count charges against him, was discharged and acquitted in court presided over by Honourable Justice Peace Otti.
Delivering her judgement, Justice Otti noted that facts presented by the Prosecution were not proven beyond reasonable doubt, which is why the court could not grant the conviction of the defendant.
Justice Otti however reasoned that something must have happened, leading to the arrest, detention and prosecution of Michael out of thousands of students in the university, but maintained that the court does not dwell on speculations; rather on concrete, verifiable, compelling and unassailable evidence before it.
She further advised the defendant to be serious with his studies going forward, and not to be found wanting again.
ANN gathered that Michael, aged twenty-six, who lived at a lodge in Otoko village Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area, was arrested by the anticult unit of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, and handed over to the police for allegedly raping under gun point one Onyinye Ezenwaka, aged twenty-one, as well as dispossessing her of the sum of twenty thousand naira.
Among other things, the court noted that no medical evidence was tendered to prove the allegation of rape, even when the complainant claimed to have received medical attention at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital Amaku Awka, and that no independent candidate testified in support of the Prosecution.
The court also entertained cross-examination of a prosecution witness in the case of Okechukwu Okoye, thirty-five, a security guard at a church in Onitsha, Okechukwu Nwazota, thirty-six, and Amaechi Anaonwu, forty-one, also security men in the neighborhood; who were accused of gang rapping a nine-year-old girl, and later adjourned the matter to thirty first May for continuation of trial.
