The Lagos State Police command has released Kari Ann O’Rourke, an American held in custody since February 9, 2021 over the death of her host.
She visited a Nigerian she met online, spent sometime with him and was already at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport for her trip back to her country on February 8, 2021, when her host slumped and died, prompting the police to arrest her.
She was detained for 44 days at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos in spite of her lawyers’ efforts.
The Police kept her in custody even after the autopsy report indicated that her male host died of heart trauma and cardiac arrest.
Lagos lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) last week raised an alarm over her health.
Adegboruwa, a rights activist, challenged her continued detention at the Federal High Court, Lagos on March 18, 2021.
In the suit, Kari Ann sought an order for her immediate release and demanded N100million from the police as damages.
Her team discovered that the case file had been forwarded to the Lagos State Ministry of Justice and that the Director of Public Prosecutions found no prima facie case against her.
“The medical report attached to the duplicate case file establishes that the cause of the deceased’s death were acute cardiac failure and hypertensive heart disease”, the Legal Advice dated March 5, 2021 reads.
“The presence of Page B1-B4 at the hotel at the time of death and their actions on how to go about the incidence aroused suspicions by the deceased’s family which led to the suspects’ arrest.”
The DPP said mere suspicion, no matter how strong, can never ground a conviction, and that the office shall not prosecute the suspects for murder.
“They should therefore be discharged and released if still in custody, as there is no case to be established against them from the facts presented in the duplicate case file”, the advice added.
