The trial of founder of the Synagogue Church of all Nation, SCOAN, Prophet TB Joshua, his trustees and two engineers was stalled on Monday due to the absence of three of the defendants in the trial.
Joshua and his team have been facing ”legal hammer” over the collapsed building within his church that killed about 116 persons in 2013.
The Lagos State Government had charged the defendants – Registered Trustees of the church, Hardrock Construction Company, Jadny Trust Ltd, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun over their indictment.
The Coroner Inquest set up by Lagos State and presided over by Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, had in its verdict of August 7, 2015 ruled that the Synagogue Church and its contractors were essentially negligent in the fatal collapsed of the six-storey guesthouse.
However, the scheduled arraignment before Justice Lawal Akapo was stalled on Monday as three out of the five defendants to be arraigned were not present.
PmNews reports that at the commencement the proceedings, Justice Akapo, observed that the 3rd, 4th and 5th defendants were absent in court.
The prosecuting counsel, the Lagos State Attorney General, Adeniji Kazeem, however told the court that the defendants could not be served with the court process because they have no verifiable address.
“We confirmed that Synagogue Trustees and the Hardrock Construction Company have been served. The other defendants in the matter could not be served because their addresses are not valid,” the AG said.
Giving reasons for their absence, Counsel of the 1st and 2nd defendants, Oluseun Abimbola, told the court that the defendants have not been served with the information of the matter by the Ministry of Justice.
“The State cannot say that they don’t have valid address because they were served in previous proceedings. The engineers, Oladele Ogundeji and Akinbela Fatiregun were even arrested by the Police and charged before a Magistrate court where they were later released on bail,” Abimbola said.
After listening to both counsels, Justice Akapo cautioned the defence counsel to remind them that the matter is a criminal one with a sensitive nature.
“Service in any proceeding is fundamental and anything done outside of this is a nullity.
“The defence counsel is hereby directed to oblige the prosecution team with valid addresses of the 3rd, 4th and 5th defendant within 72 hours,” the judge held.
The judge thereby adjourned the exparte motion for substituted service till December 11.
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