A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Kubwa issued a bench warrant on Thursday authorising the arrest of a 38-year-old butcher, Umeh Chukwu, for failing to appear for trial.
Following an oral application by the prosecution counsel, Umoh Inah, Justice Asmau Akanbi-Yusuf issued the warrant and adjourned the case sine die (indefinitely).
Inah informed the court that he had closed his case and that the defendant was scheduled to begin his defence but had escaped from the correctional facility.
According to the prosecution, the defendant escaped from prison during a Kuje prison jail break in July 2022.
He therefore applied for a bench warrant against the defendant and for the matter to be adjourned sine die.
The police had charged the defendant of Angwa Hakim, Orozo, with culpable homicide which he pleaded not guilty to.
Earlier, the prosecution counsel told the court that the defendant stabbed his neighbour, Mr Chijoke Onwe, with a knife on his neck which led to his death on March 28, 2018.
The offence, he said, is punishable under the provisions of section 221 of the Penal Code.
Section 221 states that culpable homicide shall be punished with death if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death. (NAN)