Azeez Fashola, known popularly as Naira Marley, whose trial resumed on Friday July 15th, before Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State with a prosecuting witness, Dein Whyte, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) continuing his evidence.
This was even as the court dismissed the defendant’s objection to the forensic evidence earlier presented by the witness.
Naira Marley is standing trial on an 11-count charge bordering on credit card fraud brought against him by the anti-graft agency.
At the last sitting on June 9, 2022, the defence counsel, Olalekan Ojo, objected to the witness’s opinion on the forensic evidence linking the defendant to credit card fraud. He had argued that only the court could make pronouncements on the defendant’s culpability, not an investigator.
At the resumed trial on Friday, Justice Oweibo delivered a short ruling in which he dismissed the defence’s objection.
According to him: “It is the duty of the law enforcement agency or police, charging a person to court to investigate if the defendant committed the crime or not.
“The investigator must be able to link the defendant to the commission of the crime. The prosecutor must have made up his mind as to the involvement of the defendant before bringing the case to court. I do not agree that the prosecution has declared the defendant guilty.”
The judge thereafter adjourned the trial till September 26.
