Titilayo Momoh
A 51-year old textile dealer at Balogun Market, Titilayo Momoh, who attempted to jump into the lagoon on the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, was on Monday hauled up before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court.
The accused, who was arraigned on a charge of attempting to commit suicide, pleaded not guilty.
But the prosecutor, Sgt. Kehinde Omisakin insisted that the accused committed the offence on March 24 at about 10AM on Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos.
He said the businesswoman was, however, prevented by security operatives from committing suicide.
The accused had been having sleepless nights since she was allegedly duped of N18.7 million by a Bureau-de-Change operator sometime in 2015.
The offence contravened Section 233 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
The accused may, on conviction, be sentenced to a life imprisonment according to the provisions of the section.
The Chief Magistrate, A.T. Elias admitted the accused to a bail of N500,000 with two responsible sureties in like sum.
Elias directed that the woman should be taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and adjourned the case until June 1 for mention.
Are you for f**king real,..its a crime to comit sucide ,but not a crime to find or steal millions! if there was a good justice system she would not have been duped and would have been able to get reddress. if there was a working system she would have had access to credit or even acess to mental health care! counselling, this is fucked up and the judge should throw this shit out quick!
Why is attempted suicide a crime though?
She gats suffer with the rest of us….no backing down that’s very unpatriotic
Yes. Nigerian Police.
Lets give her more reason to want to kill herself.
Someone attempted suicide cos she couldn’t settle her debt, my dearest country put her in solitary and the sum of 500000 was used to bail her out… Wowwww, just wooow, let’s even forget the fact that they claim ” bail is free”, what crime did she commit? When did attempted suicide or suicide become a punishable offence in my lawless country.. Why r d less privilege at d receiving end? I weep for Nigeria
Haba. Someone needs help and you are charging her to court. She has been duped, where will she find money to hire SAN. You won’t charge the right people. Can’t you tell that her case is psychological. She also needs prayers.
Sentencing her to prison or even subejcting her to the whole court process is only going to make her want to kill herself the more
Are these people thinking at all? I dont even see why attempted suicide should be punishable by law.
And this will make her commit suicide. Why compound her problem?
this country is fncked
But this is sickening, a woman is having mental issues because someone duped her and she was trying to commit suicide. Then the police take her to court to further worsen her mental state.
All she needs is help not further condemnation.
Utter nonsense. No words for this country we call Nigeria.
So attempted suicide is now a crime??????… Nigeria I hail thee…#patheticcountry
Has always been a crime. Stupid but yh.
This is a joke..This should be treated as a health issue not a criminal issue.. this won’t deter her from wanting to kill herself in prison…smh
yes Attempted Suicide is a crime in Nigeria however i dont know how i feel about this.
is this to deter others from attempting suicide?…and then this woman will not tried properly so she will not be jailed?
now if it is, is she being counselled to manage all these? or she will be left to deal herself another suicide blow?
I don’t know what to write.
This is a law which is on the books of many former British colonial countries. It’s the same in the Caribbean. The law has to be changed and it is up to the public, the legislature and the government to do so.
We are still carrying around foolish laws that the colonialists left us, but our lawmakers are more interested in banning tribal marks, entrenching inequalities etc. Pschew
It is so sad that over religious-ness and widespread views of certain acts being “sinful” has made African countries retain these archaic laws that many Western countries have repealed. A clearly distraught woman attempts suicide. Instead of providing her with psychological assistance you choose to prosecute her as armed robbers and corrupt officials roam our streets free. God have mercy on Africa
I wonder too. Time and resources that should have been spent on trying to fish out the people who duped her
I can’t stop laughing. Tears. Oh Lord. If she goes and jumps now, you people will be responsible.
Lol. She was arrested for attempted suicide?
Where does one start from when dealing with Nigerian authorities…. This country is a joke. I’m tired
Someone wanting to jump the bridge represents a flawed thinking process. In short- mental health issue. The world is an advanced place now. Why are we stuck with Archaic reasoning in Nigeria? Is the solution to this woman’s problem further complicating her mental state? Arrg!
Its funny how the laws in nigeria catch innocent people and petty criminals yet the ogas at the top siphoning millions are untouchable. Shame on the whole nigerian justice system. Wasting money to try a woman justifiably having a mental breakdown.
****Please make the needed correction to the news article****
Sec 233. Attempt to commit suicide:
IS
” Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a simple offence and the court shall make a hospitalisation order. ”
NOT
” The accused may, on conviction, be sentenced to a life imprisonment according to the provisions of the section.”
Source : lagosministryofjustice.org/wp-content/themes/moj/documents/CRIMINAL_CONDUCT.pdf
ABA!!! NA WAWOOOO ! THIS WOMAN IS HAVING SERIOUS PROBLEM… INSTEAD OF HELPING HER.. YOU ARE JAILING HER.. SHE WILL CONTINUE HER SUICIDAL ATTEMPTS IN JAIL.. WHY IN NAIJA THINGS ARE NOT RIGHT?? WHY NOT HELP THIS WOMAN?? SHE IS SUFFERING.. SOMEONE DUPED HER.. SHE COULD NOT TAKE IT.. NOW YOU ARE JAILING HER.. THIS IS A BACKWARD COUNTRY…. IN OTHER COUNTRIES .. I MEAN CIVILIZED COUNTRIES THEY WOULD HAVE GIVEN HER ALL THE SUPPORT SHE NEEDED.. WHY AFRICA IS STILL BACKWARD.?????????????? ALL THIS BLEEDS MY HEART… WHY ARE WE SO BACKWARD//// SO SUICIDE ATTEMPT IS NOW CONSIDERED A CRIME?? WONDERS SHALL NEVER END IN NAIJA.. SHE BETTER GET A GOOD LAWYER… BECAUSE MY HEART BLEEDS FOR THIS WOMAN.. JESUS.. ALAHU AKBAR… GOD.. DIEU .. WHERE ARE YOU.. WHY AFRICA WILL NEVER DEVELOP? BECAUSE WE ARE LED BY FOOLS AND HYPOCRITES.. THIS IS IT GUYS…THIS WOMAN WILL NOT GET THE HELP SHE NEEDS AND DESERVES.. LORD HAVE MERCY
Yes, any one caught attempting sucide is committing a crime in Nigeria. According to the
penal code (Nigeria Penal Code, Chapter 27, Section 327), “Any person who attempts to
kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for one year.”
Nigerian law also criminalizes abetment of suicide. According to Chapter 27, section 326
of the Nigeria Penal code: “Any person who (1) procures another to kill himself; or (2)
counsels another to kill himself and thereby induces him to do so; or (3) aids another in
killing himself; is guilty of a felony, and is liable, to imprisonment for life.”
She is free under that law then, since it applies only to males(..himself). My Lord, please discharge and acquit my client.
i had an intuition that it was all about Money.
Women are strong suicide is not always an option.
Its not because they duped her it might be because of debt hanging over her shoulders
Hmmmm!
One learns everyday, I never knew attempting suicide is a crime in Nigeria….I pity her sha
Heartless country!! Nonsense!!
Suicide is a crime, that is our law, but it is usually handled with a human face. I believe taking them in is to help them by giving the state legal right to provide Medicare
Nigeria will be a better country the day we replace attempted suicide with attempted corruption in the crime book. And offenders prosecuted swiftly like in the case of dis woman
Was Tbillz treated in this manner ? He did make a very public suicide attempt after all. I pray this woman gets the help she needs.
How come they never arrested……………never mind. This law is very silly and needs abolishing asap – the fact that it is trying to be enforced says a lot about the cognitive ability of the police. Smh
This feels like a really sad Joke.
Nigeria.
Grow up.
Learn how to solve problems
The law was made to solve problems
Not compound them.
Who will pay her hospital bills?
This law is part of century old laws in medieval England where young men were supposed to fight for their Lord or King and those who didn’t want to go either run away or committed suicide, the law was made to punish those who tried to avoid service to their masters through suicide. If you failed in your attempt, they would punish you severely. If you succeeded, they punish your family severely.
Those were the days when kings went to war over people’s wives or declared war out of boredom.
Even Britain, the originator of the law has removed it from their laws because they realise suicide is a mental health issue and not a crime, but not us on this continent! Parliamentarians are waiting for a residential workshop in a plush hotel with fat per diem and a trip to heaven and back to remove that single section from the criminal code.
Hhhmm
How can some of you be so unsympathetic. This cannot be a decision that one would take lightly. She probably had no support. From what I understand the “offense” of attempted suicide is in contravention of Section233 of the Criminal Law of lagos state. It prescribes hospitalization as the person is guilty of a simple offense. How does this translate to a 500k bail and jail? Sucide is a crime against whom.? We are quick to condem but never available to help out when people need someone to help out. COMPASSION my people.