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Tag: attempted suicide

  • Attempted suicide: Melaye docked, granted N5m bail

    Senator Dino Melaye was on Tuesday docked before an FCT High Court, Apo area of Abuja on a six-count charge, bordering on attempted suicide and attempt to escape from custody.

    Melaye, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, was also charged of damage to police property.

    The senator however, denied committing the offences preferred against him.

    Justice Sylvanus Oriji said that he was aware that the court had granted bail to the defendant when he was arraigned before him on July 25, 2018 on the same charges.

    Oriji said that the earlier bail conditions, which included the sum of N5 million and two sureties in like sum were still valid and should be sustained in the current charges.

    In the earlier bail condition, Melaye was to produce two sureties who must be directors in the civil service, reside in the FCT, and depose to affidavits of means.

    Read Also: Melaye, Okorocha, Akpabio and Poll 2019

    The prosecuting counsel, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), told the court that the defendant committed the alleged offences on April 24.

    He said the defendant, while being conveyed in a police vehicle to Lokoja, allegedly forced his way out of the vehicle and attempted to escape.

    Izinyon said that the defendant held a substance in his hand and threatened to drink it to kill himself so that he would put the police officers in trouble.

    The prosecutor also said that the defendant broke the glass of the vehicle with his elbow and caused damage to police property.

    He said the offences contravened the provisions of Sections 148,153,173,231, 326 and 327 of the Penal Code.

    The counsel to the defendant, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) was, however, not in court.

    The judge adjourned the case until April 5, for hearing.

    NAN

  • Should attempted suicide be criminalised?

    How is my attempt to kill myself be anybody’s business?” – Attempted suicide suspect Mrs Titilayo Momoh speaking after her arrest by the police.

    On Sunday, March 19,  this year one Dr. Allwell Orji ordered his driver to stop his vehicle on the popular Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, Nigeria, got out of the car and took a plunge into the lagoon. It happened so fast that neither the driver nor other road users saw it coming. Days later, his body was recovered. It was alleged he was suffering from a case of chronic depression.

    As though his plunge was an eye-opener for persons seeking a way out of this tough existence, in the ensuing days there were several copycat attempts at suicide on that same bridge. One of the persons who tried to take the plunge was Titilayo Momoh -51 years old, a textile dealer who was deeply in debt having allegedly been duped of N18.7 million by a Bureau-de-Change operator sometime in 2015. To add to her woes, her shop was, thereafter, burgled by robbers who carted away her goods. Very sad and unexpected turn of events.

    Fortunately (or unfortunately, as unfolding events would show), she was rescued (or prevented from taking her life) by the Police. Upon her rescue, she was taken to the Commissioner of Police (COP) where she reportedly said,

    “I did not steal, I did not kill anybody. I only wanted to take my life. This Policeman (pointing at the CP) said I have committed a crime. Which crime? How is my attempt to kill myself anybody’s business? Is it not my life? Let me end it all.”

    It would appear her rescue compounded her woes because, on the April 24, this year, Mrs. Momoh was charged before the Magistrate Court, Ebute-Meta for the offence of “attempted suicide” contrary to section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which provides: “Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a simple offence and the court shall make a hospitalisation order.”

    She pleaded not guilty to the offence and the court set her bail at N500,000. For non-lawyers, it does not mean she has to pay N500,000 immediately or at all to be allowed on bail. It means, she has to find someone who will sign a bond with the State to guarantee that she will be available for her trial and where she fails to attend her trial, the person will forfeit the bond sum to the State.

    The section of the law that she was charged under is similar to the provision of the Criminal Code Act, which provides that “any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for one year” (Section 327).

    Why is the attempt to take one’s life still considered a crime in Nigeria (and some part of the world)? There are two background basis for this view. The first is from religious doctrines that espouse that only God has the right to decide when a person would die.

    The second is that criminalising attempted suicide formed part of the body of laws that we inherited from our colonial masters. For instance, in Great Britain, until 1961 when the Suicide Act was passed, attempted suicide was deemed to be equivalent to attempted murder and could be punished by hanging. Tell me about irony.

    I believe that it is on the basis of the latter that we continue to view the attempts to take one’s life as a crime. Our Criminal Code Act has not undergone any major review in recent years. We still have some provisions therein that are not in consonance with present day realities.

    What would make a person consider taking his/her life? Many people think that the act of suicide is “selfish” because it really devastates the victim’s family and other survivors.

    However, on the other side of the coin, others would argue that it is selfish for others to force someone to stay alive with their level of suffering.

    In my opinion, we need to interrogate further to get to the root of why a person would think that taking his/her life is a solution to solving all the person’s life problem.

    Unfortunately, criminalising attempted suicide is not one of the ways to get to the root cause.

    It is often the case that when penal consequences are attached to a prohibited act it is done to deter the frequency of occurrence of such act.

    One is constrained to ask, who is criminalising attempted suicide intended to deter? Mrs. Momoh who attempted to kill herself or other members of the society who, perhaps, are going through similar situation as her and are considering to end their lives?

    If it is Mrs. Momoh, how does convicting her for attempted suicide help her already precarious situation? Rather than help, it worsens her situation because, in addition to her suicidal tendency, the label of “ex-convict” is added to her.

    We should focus on creative ways of handling and managing persons who are going through severe depression which leads to suicidal thoughts. We need to shift our attitudes from viewing suicide (and attempted suicide) as wrongdoing or sin and recognize that majority of the individuals attempting suicide [or dying from suicide] are in a great deal of distress. We can focus on enacting Mental Health Bills to address this issue rather than criminalizing it. Several countries including South Africa, India, Ireland, Britain and E.U countries have expunged attempted suicide from their Criminal Code.

    It is instructive that the Lagos State Criminal Law, unlike the Criminal Code Act, does not attach penal consequences to the offence of attempted suicide rather it prescribes hospitalization of the accused (or victim which I think is a better expression). While this is commendable, it is still an aberration because whether or not the accused (victim) is penalised by the state, the fact that it is still considered an offence cast a shadow of criminality on the accused (victim). In addition, one still wonders why, despite the absence of a penal consequence, the magistrate set the bail amount at N500,000.00 –an outrageous amount for an “offence” that is, upon conviction, punishable by hospitalisation.

     

    • Ugochukwu Nnamdi Ukamba is a Legal Practitioner based in Lagos and Senior Partner at THTS Practice, a commercial law firm based in Lagos, Nigeria
  • Attempted suicide: Court orders psychiatric test for textile trader

    Attempted suicide: Court orders psychiatric test for textile trader

    An Ebute-Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court yesterday ordered a textile trader, Mrs Titilayo Momoh, to undergo psychiatric test after pleading not guilty to attempted suicide.
    Momoh, 51, was arraigned by the D4 Section of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID), at Panti, Yaba, before Chief Magistrate T. A. Elias.
    The charge reads: “That you Titilayo Momoh on March 24 at about 10am at Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos did attempt to commit suicide by jumping into the river and thereby committed an offence under Section 235 Cap C17, Volume 3 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
    The defendant pleaded not guilty.
    Prosecuting Sergeant Kehinde Omisakin did not object to the oral bail application of her defence counsel, Beauty Otigi.
    Chief Magistrate Elias granted the defendant N500,000 bail, with two sureties in the like sum. The sureties must show evidence of tax payment.
    Last March 24, Momoh, a Lagos Island fabrics dealer was rescued from jumping into the Lagoon by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).
    According to Lagos State Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni, Momoh was in a taxi driving towards Oworonshoki when she asked the driver to stop on the bridge.
    She was about to jump into the lagoon when a police patrol team saw her and stopped her from taking her life.
    He said: “She attempted suicide by attempting to jump into the lagoon around Oworonshoki inward Mainland on Third Mainland Bridge. Unfortunately for her, she was rescued.
    “The police patrol team sighted her and rushed to rescue her before she jumped into the Lagoon.”

  • Four stowaways charged with attempted suicide

    Four men- Patrick Johnson, Muideen Badmus, Chike Obi and Paul Ogunbure – who hid themselves in the propeller compartment of a ship were yesterday arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court for alleged attempted suicide.
    Johnson, 27, an applicant; Badmus , 22, a tricycle operator; Obi, 19, a footballer, and Ogunbure , 20, also a footballer, denied committing the offence.
    According to prosecuting Inspector Essien Ndarake, the defendants committed the offence on March 13 at Tin Can Island, Apapa, Lagos.
    He said the accused persons conspired to “aid suicide” by entering into a vessel through the propeller compartment.
    “The accused persons attempted to commit suicide by using unauthorised route to travel abroad. The accused persons entered the ship from Lagos through a locally made boat which they paddled to where the vessel was. They entered through the propeller compartment without the knowledge of the crew members, “he said.
    Ndarake said the accused were arrested in Senegal and deported to Nigeria.
    “When the vessel got to Senegal, a check was conducted on the vessel and the accused persons were found hiding in the tyre compartment. The accused persons were deported to Nigeria and handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service officials at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja who handed them over to the police for further investigation.
    “None of the accused persons possessed a travelling document, “he said.
    The offence contravened Sections 232 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
    Magistrate E. Kubeinje granted the defendants N50,000 bail with two sureties each in the like sum. He adjourned till April 25.

  • Terrorism suspect Okah attempts suicide in court

    Terrorism suspect Okah attempts suicide in court

    Security operatives attached to Justice Gabriel Kolawole at the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday prevented Charles Okah, the alleged mastermind of the 2010 Independence Day bombing from committing suicide in court.

    Okah, who is standing trial on charges of terrorism, had sought the permission of the judge to speak on what he termed “endless trial”, as his counsel was absent in court.

    The judge granted the oral application and permitted Okah to speak for about five minutes.

    Okah said: “I have been incarcerated for about five years now and I have a family to cater for.

    “My children would grow up without feeling the warmth of their father and I am tired of this endless trial.

    “I really do not know what I have done to be treated this way.

    “Is it not better to die than to wait and be messed up this way?”’ he asked.

    Immediately after Okah ended his speech, he grabbed a chair in the court and quickly moved toward a window on third floor of the five-storey building and attempted to jump down.

    He was immediately pulled back by security operatives, lawyers and other litigants from embarking on the action.

    Consequently, Kolawole adjourned the case to Oct. 20 for continuation of trial.

    Others charged in the case are Obi Nwabueze and Edmund Ebuware.

    The fourth accused, Tiemkemfa Osuvwo, died in Kuje prison, while Ebuwari has been jailed for life as his case was separately decided.

    However, Okah and Nwabueze have been facing long trial as a result of the introduction of numerous injunctions from both the prosecution and defence teams.