Aluu 4: Suspect Admits Involvement

The third accused person
standing trial in the gruesome murder of four students of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Ikechukwu Louis Amadi (aka Kapoon), has admitted in court that he used stick to hit  one of the deceased, during the incident on October 5, 2012, at Omuokiri Community, Aluu, in Ikwerre of Rivers State.
The victims were, Ugonna Obuzor, Lloyd Toku Mike, Tekenah Elkanah and Chidika Biringa.
Kapoon, who is facing a murder charge, alongside seven other persons, made the confession last Friday, during cross-examination before Justice Letam Nyordee of the State High Court.
The accused person told the court that he saw himself in the video using the stick to chase people away from his house veranda and not hitting the boys.
It took the intervention of the trial judge to let him understand that the court was in a serious business before he admitted involvement in the act.
The trial judge, Justice  Latam Nyordee, had ordered for a trial within trial of the statement of the third accused after his (Legal Aid Counsel), represented by I.M. Briggs, told the court that his client was coerced at gun point and with inducement by the police to sign the statement.
He urged the court to reject the statement as it was signed under duress.
In his submissions after the cross-examination, the leader of the prosecution team and the Solicitor-General of the state, Mr Rufus Godwin, prayed the court to admit the statement relying on section 135 Sub 1 and 13 Sub 1, respectively of the evidence act arguing that the defence failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that his client was coerced in  signing the statement.
The trial judge, Justice L.L. Nyordee later adjoined the matter to May 22 and June 12 for ruling on the statement and continuation on the trial.