Why We Don’t Want Joshua’s Driver To Be Jailed – Family
Anthony Joshua’s uncle, Adedamola Joshua, has revealed that the boxer and his family don’t want the driver involved in the accident that claimed the lives of his friends to be jailed.
It would be recalled that Joshua was involved in a car crash that killed his two friends, Latif Ayodele, and Sina Ghami on December 29 while he sustained minor injuries.
Adeniyi Kayode drove the Lexus 570 SUV which rammed into a stationary truck along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on the fateful day.
However, a few days after the crash he was arrested and charged to court.
He appeared before a magistrate’s court in Sagamu, Ogun State, on Tuesday over the crash and he was granted bail in the sum of N5m with two sureties in like sum.
The driver now faces four counts of dangerous driving causing death, reckless and negligent driving, and driving without due care and attention which allegedly resulted in bodily harm and damage to property and driving without a valid national driver’s licence.
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The prosecution lawyer, Richard Nijiwe, said the alleged offences contravened sections 5(1), 6(1), 7(1) and 10(1) of the Federal Highway Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
However, the defence counsel, Abiodun Olalekan, opposed the application, arguing that the defence was ready to proceed with the trial.
The case was adjourned by the magistrate, Olajumoke Somefu until February 25 after the prosecution applied for a delay to enable the transmission of the case file to the Ogun State Attorney-General’s Office through the Department of Public Prosecutions for legal advice.
Joshua’s uncle, Adedamola revealed that the boxer, and his family are not interested in seeing the driver jailed.
He said: “Our son (Joshua) is so much deep in religion and taking everything by faith, he will not want anything to happen to the driver.
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“I see closeness between them, and he will not like him to go to jail because he has got his own family, and the children will suffer.
“The family is also not interested in him being jailed because an accident can happen anywhere in the world, so they should please spare this man. Let’s move forward.”
The legal advice from the attorney-general office will determine if there is sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecution.
Joshua, a two-time heavyweight champion, returned to the United Kingdom after the accident.
