A Muslim cleric, Imam Mohammed Yusuf, and his 18-year-old daughter, Salamat, have been docked at a Tinubu Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Lagos State, for allegedly giving out poisoned bean cakes (Akara, a local snack), to beggars around the Balogun area of the state.
News Agency of Nigera (NAN), reports that the 50-year-old Yusuf, had sent Salamat to distribute the snacks to the beggars at Offin Street in the area on August 5, 2016, and it was later realised that the bean cakes had poisoned needles inserted in them.
The State Prosecuting Counsel, Barrister Ben Ekundayo, who said the two suspects are facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and attempted murder, narrated how they carried out the crime with the intention of with intent to endanger the lives of the beggars in the guise of doing a good deed.
Ekundayo told the court presided over by Magistrate Ade Adefulire:
“The Muslim cleric sent his daughter to give the beggars, near the Mosque, the bean-cakes, but when one of them (the beggars) opened the bean-cake, he found needles in the middle.
Other beggars were notified; one of them, who knows the daughter and the school where she teaches, led them there and she was apprehended. She also led police to her father.”
Ekundayo said that the offences contravened Sections 228 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
When the charges were read to the accused, they pleaded not guilty and Adefulire admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N500, 000, with two sureties each in like sum.
He also ordered that sureties must be blood relations and account owners with a deposit of N100, 000 in their bank accounts, before adjourning the case till September 29, for mention.
