The Lagos State Government has written a
letter through the Directorate of Public
Prosecutions, DPP, demanding that the Nigerian
Police should forward the duplicate of the case
file on the alleged domestic assault meted out
on actress Mercy Aigbe by her husband Lanre
Gentry.
The letter indicated the interest of the state
government in prosecuting the assault case in
the earliest possible time so that both victim
and offender can have their case resolved
promptly.
This is in line with the statement made by the
State Attorney-General and Commissioner for
Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, during this year’s
ministerial briefing
Mr Kazeem said: “The DPP is committed to
ensuring that all offenders are brought to book
thereby discouraging impunity in our society.
We are also committed to speedy trials,
especially so that suspects are not detained for
too long awaiting trial. It is our belief that both
the victims of a crime and the alleged offenders
deserve to have their cases resolved at the
earliest possible time.”
Vanguard reports that the resolve to write the
Police was sequel to the result of the recent
medical check-up conducted on Mercy Aigbe
that indicated alleged assault by her husband.
Asides writing to the Deputy Commissioner of
Police in charge of the State Criminal
Investigative Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba,
Lagos Mainland Local Government, DPP also
copied other relevant agencies, to alert them of
its plan.
It would be recalled that the Coordinator of the
State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response
Team, DSVRT, Mrs. Titilola Vivour- Adeniyi, had
argued during a sensitization programme that
Domestic Violence is a crime committed
against the State. She said that if anyone is
abused, the state is also being abused, hence
our mindsets have to change and domestic
violence has to be treated as a crime against
the state.
