Federal High Court in Lagos State has on Tuesday dismissed case against popular effeminate dancer and cross dresser, James Brown and 46 other men charged for public display of affection with members of same-sex.
The men were arrested in a 2018 raid on a hotel in Egbeda area of Lagos State. The police had said they were being initiated into a gay club but the defendants denied the claim, adding that they were attending a birthday party.
Brown shot into limelight following this incident and after a video of his interview while being paraded at the police station went viral. In the video, he narrated the incident and vehemently denied being gay.
The case was dismissed after prosecutors failed to attend the hearing at the high court, having previously failed to present some of their witnesses for the hearing that had been adjourned on several occasions.
The charges brought against the defendants carried a 10-year prison sentence.
Rilwan Aikawa, the judge who presided over the case, said he resorted to striking the case out due to the “lack of diligent prosecution”.
While the Judge pointed out that the prosecuting counsel, J.I Ebhoremen, was absent from court for the umpteenth time with no reasonable explanation, the defence counsel, Israel Usman noted that it was the ninth time Mr Ebhoremen did not show up in court since the case started in 2019.
Usman urged the Judge to strike out the case as Section 356(5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 provided a maximum of five adjournments at the instance of the prosecution in a criminal trial.
He said;
This is ninth adjournment at the instance of the prosecution in contravention of the statutory Act that regulates criminal justice system. We urge the court to dismiss the case and discharge the defendants.
Ruling on the case, Aikawa expressed;
I agree entirely with defendants’ counsel that the prosecution’s attitude to this case is not satisfactory. In my view, this should not be. If the prosecution has a cogent reason not to be in court, he should have communicated in writing to the court and copy the defence counsel.
For whatever reason, the prosecution is no more capable or not willing to prosecute this case. Consequently, this case is struck out due to lack of diligent prosecution.
In reaction to the dismissal as the defendants proceeded out of the high court, Brown could be heard saying;
I’m free. I’m free to travel around the country. Yeah. It means a lot of good things. I’m very free.
A Nigerian law bans gay marriage and same-sex “amorous relationships” and it is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The law when it came into force under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014 sparked international outcry. However, no offender is known to have been convicted under it.
