After spending six months at the Ilesa prison for allegedly raping a 26-year old corps member, Helen Okpara, an Osun State High Court, sitting in Osogbo, yesterday granted bail to the Alowa of Ilowa in Obokun local government area of the state, Adebukola Alli.
The trial judge, Justice Oyejide Falola, however declared that the bail might be revoked and the accused person given bench warrant should he fail ?to show up in court when ever his attention was needed.
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Oba Alli had since March 25 this year been standing trial over an allegation of rape of a corps member who served in his domain.
The case was, in August, transferred to the High Court from the Chief Magistrate Court after the trial magistrate who ?had earlier on July 1 granted bail to the accused monarch, ?eventually denied him the bail.
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At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, counsel to the accused person, Tawfeek Tewogbade ?told the court that the health of his client, who was brought to the court in an ambulance , had seriously deteriorated as a result of the strike embarked upon by medical officers in the state-owned hospitals who were attending to him and pleaded the court to grant the accused person bail on health ground.
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Mr Tewogbade, who urged the court to temper justice with mercy and consider the health of his client , said that he should be presumed innocent of the allegation levelled against him until otherwise proven guilty.
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According to Tewogbade, who called the attention of the court to the position of his client who was laid on a stretcher throughout the court proceedings, “medical officers in the employment of the state government who were taking care of the health of my client had for some months now been on strike and this has adversely affected his health. It is on this note that I plead that the court should grant him bail and allow him access to private physicians of his choice.”?
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The state counsel who expressed fear that the accused person could jump bail ?also agreed that the health of the accused has grossly deteriorated.
Ruling on the bail application, the Judge, ?granted the accused person bail in the sum of #200,000 with two sureties who are residents of the state with tax clearance certificate and two passport photographs.
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Justice Falola, who noted that it was only the living that could be prosecuted and stressed that the need to grant the accused person bail became imperative considering his deteriorating health condition.
He also ruled that the accused should have access to his personal physician but should not travel outside the country without the approval of the Registrar of the State High Court.
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