The High Court of Lagos in Ikeja dismissed the appeal for bail filed by the Chief Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Genesis Global, Prophet Israel Ogundipe.
Ogundipe was brought before the court on a seven-count charge following a petition filed by an architect based in the United Kingdom, Mrs Olaide Williams-Oni, who accused him of collecting a total of N17 million from her in order to help her acquire some landed property.
In her testimony before the court, Williams-Oni told the court that she had met the prophet Ogundipe when her step-sister had taken her to his church for prayer during her visit to Nigeria in 2002.
However in a counter-affidavit sworn by the lawyer, Rotimi Odutola, he urged the court to reject the application, adding that the convict had never made any mention of his health condition during the trial.
"The convict spanned several years before the court for trial, there was never a time the convict complained about his state of health during the trial, only for him to allude to facts about his alleged state of health now that he has been in custody for barely three weeks.
"Indeed, if his health status truly requires treatment, the correctional centres also have a procedure for referral where an inmate's health case so demands without the prompting of anyone."
Following the claim of the prosecution counsel, Justice Akinlade denied Ogundipe's appeal.
"The convict has not shown any medical records of his illness. Also, he has not been to the prison hospital for treatment, so his appeal can be heard early by the Court of Appeal."Justice Akinlade said.
No comments:
Post a Comment