Traffic offender sentenced for assaulting FRSC operatives

A Magistrate Court sitting in Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State, has sentenced Mr. Kazeem Abdullahi, a motorist, to one month imprisonment for attacking patrol operatives of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) while performing their lawful duties along the Oye-Ifaki road, Ekiti State.

Mr. Kazeem was arraigned with case file number MOY/15C/2024 before His Worship, Senior Magistrate Salau M.E., of the Oye Ekiti Magistrate Court on a lone count under Section 187 of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State 2021, bordering on assault on a law enforcement officer.

Delivering the judgment, His Worship found the defendant guilty as charged but, considering that Kazeem was a first-time offender with dependents and had apologized to the FRSC, sentenced him to one month imprisonment or a fine of ₦5,000 in lieu of imprisonment.

The offender was charged alongside Alhaji Dauda, the first defendant, who was presumed innocent and thereby discharged and acquitted.

The matter, which occurred on April 22, 2024, was first presented before His Worship on May 9, 2024, when the defendant pleaded not guilty. The case saw other subsequent appearances before it was finally adjourned on October 14, 2024, when the verdict was pronounced.

The two defendants, Mr. Kazeem Abdullahi, who was a passenger, and Alhaji Dauda, the rider of the motorcycle, were stopped at an FRSC patrol point when Kazeem became provocative and assaulted the personnel on duty.

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The rider, who was apprehended for committing the offences of overloading with persons and riding a motorcycle without a helmet, went berserk at the point of arrest as one of the passengers he carried started assaulting the arresting marshal in uniform.

Reacting to the judgment, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Shehu Mohammed, commended the judiciary for the quick dispensation of justice, noting that this, like other judgments, serves as a strong warning to perpetrators of such acts that no member of the public who assaults a public officer on duty, no matter how minor the case, will be spared.

While lamenting the repeated attacks on FRSC personnel, which often result in the loss of lives of patrolmen on highways, the Corps Marshal warned the motoring community, particularly recalcitrant individuals who habitually attack security agencies, to desist from such acts or face the full wrath of the law.