Police operatives from the Oyo State Command have arrested a tenant, identified as Mr. Peter, for allegedly setting his landlord’s house ablaze and destroyed property worth over N6.5m in the process.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the Police later arrested Peter and charged him before the Magistrate Court on two count charges of felony and arson under the Criminal Laws of the State.
The Presiding Magistrate, M. Mudashiru, did not take his plea due to want in the jurisdiction and ordered that he should be remanded in Abolongo Correctional facility, Oyo Town, pending the outcome of legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
The Court also directed the prosecutor to duplicate the file and send it to the DPP for advice and adjourned the matter till 23rd July, 2024, for mention for the report of the DPP’s advice to be available, which will determine if the matter will be transferred to the High Court or not over jurisdiction.
Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Inspector Femi Oluwadare, told the Court that the defendant, Peter, had on 18th April, 2024, at about 12:30 am, allegedly unlawfully set fire on the house of his landlord, Cepas Okeme, and destroyed properties worth the said amount.
Oluwadare said that after he set the building on fire, it also spread to the next property belonging to Bose Ali ‘F’ and also destroyed property worth ₦3.5m making the total cost of the property the inferno destroyed to be N10m.
He said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 443 of the Criminal Code Laws of Oyo State 2000.