A judge of the Bayelsa State High Court, Iniekadi Eradiri, on Monday, quit the trial of Chief Richard Kpodo, former aide to ex-governorTimipre Sylva of Bayelsa.
Kpodo, standing trial for alleged rape of a 26-year-old female cashier, had appealed Justice Eradiri’s ruling, declining to disqualify self from hearing the case and petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) accusing the judge of bias.
Kpodo’s counsel, Julius Iyekoroghe had, on December 21, 2018, approached Eradiri with a Motion on Notice, urging him to disqualify himself, but Eradiri referred the application to the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State.
Chief Judge of the state, Justice Kate Abiri, subsequently declined an application to hand over the rape trial to another judge.
The defence counsel alleged that the judge showed bias in the case by refusing to grant bail to the Defendant.
Ruling on the petition, on Monday, Eradiri, said that he was constrained to hands off the case to pave way for investigation by the NJC.
According to the judge, “I feel strongly that I should no longer continue with the case , since the petition against me before the National Judicial Council is being investigated.
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“I will therefore hand over the case file to the Honourable Chief Judge,” Eradiri said.
Recall that Kpodo, who was earlier denied bail by Eradiri, had appealed the decision at the Appeal Court and was released from prison custody at Okaka Prisons Yenagoa, where he was held from July 2018 till April 2019 having met the bail conditions.