Yewande was arraigned before Magistrate Kehinde Durosaro, in a suit marked MI/153c/2016 and tagged Commissioner of Police Vs Oyediran Yewande and the charge was signed by the Officer in Charge of Legal/Prosecution in the Oyo State command of the police, DSP (Barr) Fawole Funke. The single charge read, “That you Yewande Oyediran ‘F’, on the 2nd day of February 2016, at about 6.10am at No 30, Abidi Odan, Akobo Area Ibadan in the Ibadan Magisterial District, did unlawfully cause the death of one Oyelowo Oyediran ‘M’ aged 38 years by stabbing him with knife on the neck which later resulted in his death thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 316 and punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal code Cap 38 Vol II Laws of Oyo State.” The lead defense councel, Mr. Seun Abimbola, made a verbal application that the court should remand Yewande in police custody but Magistrate Durosaro refused the application. Abimbola further stated that he would make the application legal by writing to the court on the said issue but Magistrate Durosaro ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear such applications. The court gave a stand-down for some minutes and the magistrate came back to give the court ruling. She remanded Yewande at the Agodi Prisons and adjourned the matter till February 16, 2016 for mention. The case, however, had a lot of dramatic moments as journalists that covered the event had a running battle with some of Yewande’s colleagues and prison warders, led by A.A. Aborode, who continually threatened that they would destroy the camera of journalists that were trying to take Yewande’s pictures. Also, the family of the deceased almost went physical with some of Yewande’s friends and colleagues. There were torrents of curses, people rushing at each other amid pleas for peace to reign. Some of the accused’s friends rained curses on journalists, alleging that they were responsible for her prosecution on the social media as, according to them, the press had already found her guilty without the benefit of a fair hearing. After almost two hours, the battle came to an end when it was discovered that rather than using the expected prison Black Maria lorry to take her to prison, she had been smuggled out of the court in a private car. This caused further allegations and noise by the deceased family members who expressed dissatisfaction that after committing a crime, Yewande was being given preferential treatment. They were vehement in their fears that the case will not be judiciously prosecuted. Throughout the court sitting and the fracas, Yewande’s siblings and other family members that were in court were silent as they continued to weep. Earlier, some of her colleagues that spoke with Saturday Tribune had expressed their surprise at the incident, adding that it was shocking because the Yewande they knew could not stand crime in any form and would not condone any form of unruly behaviour, adding that she was not known to be a violent person. “I am surprised at what happened to her now, the person I have always known to discourage crime, to fight against crime has now been involved in a crime and a crime that we can describe as the highest in magnitude which has the punishment that is known to law. Honestly, I am surprised. I am short of words,” Adeleke Bakare, a lawyer said. “It is quite unfortunate that she found herself in this situation. This young lady who is accused of murder is somebody that has a high regard for the process of law. What could have led her into this act, I do not know but you see as an attorney there is really little I can say about this case now because whatever I say will amount to subjudice because the matter is right in the court of law. I don’t want to give an opinion that will affect the case, either advertently or inadvertently. “But basically what I can say is that she’s somebody that has good character, very disciplined. So I don’t know what could have led her to this, is it spiritual, is it emotional trauma? But strictly speaking, I was taken aback when I heard she was involved, she was the last person I would have thought could have taken laws into her own hands but by and large, this is going to be a test for the judiciary, it is going to be a test for the Nigerian Bar Association as a whole because members of the public are watching to see where the pendulum of justice will swing but for now, she is innocent until proven guilty because we don’t have the character of evidence in this matter for or against,” another lawyer said.]]>