MICHAEL AKINOLA
A housewife, Mrs. Cynthia Ukachukwu, has landed in trouble in Lagos State for standing as surety for her husband, Pastor Augustine Ukachukwu, at the Police Station and when he was released to her on bail, he ran away to avoid prosecution over N2.2m fraud.
P.M.EXPRESS reports the Pastor’s wife, Mrs. Cynthia, has been arrested and charged before Yaba Magistrates Court for failing to produce her husband to the Police as she had promised.
According to the Police, Pastor Augustine, who was involved in a criminal matter, was arrested and detained at SCID, Yaba and his wife, Cynthia, perfected his bail bond and he was released to her on the condition that she would produce him any time the Police needed his attention.
However, after Pastor Augustine was released from custody on bail, he realised that the Police had enough evidence against him and he may likely be imprisoned, so he reportedly fled.
When the Police needed him, they asked his wife to produce him but she told the Police that he ran away after being granted bail and disconnected any contact with her.
Consequently, the Police arrested and charged her before the Court for the alleged offence.
The Police prosecutor, Haruna Magaji, told the Court that Mrs. Cynthia’s husband, Pastor Augustine Ukachukwu, was arraigned for obtaining money by false pretences and stealing N2.2m from one Grace Uzoigwe under the pretence of selling a parcel of land to her.
Cynthia and her husband, who disguised as a Pastor, in March 2018, promised the complainant, Uzoigwe, that they would sell a parcel of land that was partially developed to her and convinced her to pay N2.2m into Augustine’s bank account.
However, after making payment, the couple failed to fulfill their part of the transaction. Uzoigwe then asked for a refund but the couple allegedly refused and began to threaten her.
Uzoigwe immediately reported the matter to the Police and Pastor Augustine was picked up by the operatives.
The Police told the Court that Augustine was released to the wife, Cynthia, who stood as a surety after signing a bail bond on March 2, 2021, with a promise to always make him available whenever the Police authority needed his presence in the pending matter, a promise she failed to uphold before her arrest.
According to Magaji, the offence contravened and is punishable under Section 97 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.
“That you, Cynthia Ukachukwu, on March 2, 2021, at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, M. A. K Smith Street, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, in the Yaba Magisterial District, did stand in as a surety for the bail of one Augustine Ukachukwu, involved in a case of obtaining money by false pretence and stealing, wherein you undertake to produce the defendant at any time until the case is disposed of, but failed to produce him, an attempt to pervert the cause of justice and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 97 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.”
She pleaded not guilty.
The Presiding Magistrate, Adefope, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N500.000 with two responsible sureties, who must show evidence of means of livelihood.
The matter was adjourned till 9th May, 2023, for mention while the defendant was remanded in custody at the Correctional Centre pending when she will perfect her bail conditions.