By Jerry Uwah
Lagos
The video footage of the collapsed guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) was yesterday played in an Ikeja High Court against stiff objection by the defence counsels.
Two engineers involved in the construction of the collapsed building are being tried for manslaughter of 116 persons who died in the disaster.
The footage was played in the courtroom after Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo, in a ruling, ordered that the footage be admitted as evidence.
The defence led by Chief E.L Akpofure had objected to the footage being admitted as evidence because it was computer generated, irrelevant and a copy of the original.
Akpofure had also noted that a witness for the state, Mr Olutoyin Ayinde, a former Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, in his evidence had said he could not identify the contents of the compact disc (CD) containing the footage ‘until he watches the CD to ascertain its contents.’
However, at the resumed hearing yesterday, Justice Lawal-Akapo dismissed the objection of the defence for lack of merit.
“I find no merit in the objections, they are overruled, the video clip and accompanying documents are admitted in evidence”, he said.
Justice Lawal-Akapo said the prerogative of a court in admitting a document into evidence was its relevance.
“For a document to be tendered in evidence, the guiding principle is relevance and not custody, the questions to be asked is whether the document is needed and admissible in law”, the judge ruled.
Justice Lawal-Akapo, adjourned the case to 10, 11 and 12 October for continuation of trial.
