On November 20, 2009 the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) secured an acquittal for Mrs. Oluchi Adanna Akosile who had been incarcerated since February 14, 2003 for allegedly killing her mother-in-law, Mrs. Beatrice Oreoluwa Balogun Akosile, aged 72. Prior to the incident, Oluchi was a housewife and depended wholly on her husband. Soon after her arrest and incarceration in 2003, her husband and accuser deserted her, and took their 6 month old baby girl away from her. Neither Oluchi nor her parents, Mr. Hilary and Mrs. Eunice Oriaku could afford the high legal fees charged by private attorneys.   Consequently, Oluchi languished in jail for many months until February 2005 when her parents approached SERAC for legal aid.

SERAC’s Legal Action and Women’s Rights Programs are deeply committed to securing greater human rights protections for men and women, on the basis of non-discrimination and fair hearing. Consistent with this mandate, the organization agreed to extend its free legal services to Oluchi, and to serve as her criminal defense attorney.

Right from the point of arrest, Oluchi had maintained her innocence. The prosecution claimed that Oluchi was alone with the deceased on the night the murder occurred, and on that basis, presumed she committed the offence. However, Oluchi and her husband lived on the premises of the Celestial Church of Christ, Gbagada that grants unfettered access to both visitors and church members attending the numerous church programs and daily night vigils. In her statement to the police and testimony in court, Oluchi constantly stated that she saw her husband’s aide, Monday Taiwo fleeing from her mother-in-law’s room the very night the incident occurred. The aide was never invited nor interrogated by the police. Based on this very shoddy and heavily compromised police investigation, the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) issued a legal advice that directed that Oluchi be charged for murder pursuant to Section 319 of the Criminal Code Law, CAP C17 of Lagos State.

After a protracted trial that lasted for four years, Oluchi was discharged and acquitted on November 20, 2009 by a Lagos High Court. According to the High Court, “…There is reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused and the doubt must be resolved in her favour”…Suspicion alone, no matter how double and strong, is not enough to justify preferring a charge against a person…”  SERAC and other interested observers of the case were not surprised by this decision.

The evidence led by the prosecution was fundamentally flawed and incoherent. Despite submitting a list of nine key witnesses, only the estranged husband, Prosecution Witness 1 (PW1) gave evidence in support of the prosecution’s case. During the trial, the court, upon SERAC’s request ordered that Oluchi’s baby be produced in court. Following that order, the PW1 disappeared without concluding his testimony. All the other witnesses including the police officers that conducted the slapdash investigations failed to show up in court to testify.

Till date, the whereabouts of the baby girl is still unknown. SERAC is taking steps to help Oluchi locate and regain legal custody of her daughter.