Chinese lovers fight during arraignment for arson
Samson Folarin
Samson Folarin
There was a mild drama at the Ebute-Meta
Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after two Chinese
lovers – Zhen Zhen, female (47) and Leo Jian Feng,
male (41) – engaged in fisticuffs on the court
premises.
They assaulted each other shortly after their
handcuffs were removed by the police.
It took the intervention of court officials to stop
the duo from injuring each other.
They were later called to the dock to answer to
charges of alleged arson.
PUNCH Metro was told that the duo had checked
into the Ernest Hotel in Ikeja on July 4.
They were alleged to have set the facility on fire
while smoking some substance.
They were subsequently arrested after firefighters of
the Lagos State Fire Service put out the inferno.
The suspects were arraigned on two counts of
arson.
The charge read in part, “That you, Zhen Zhen and
Leo Jian Feng, both Chinese, on July 5, 2016, at
about 2am at Bamishele Street, off Allen Avenue,
Ikeja, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did
conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit:
arson.
“That you did willfully and unlawfully set fire to burn
part of the Ernest Hotel on Bamishele Street, off
Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, valued at N17,864,900,
property of one Ernest Uwanyerem.”
The police prosecutor, Sergeant Olatunde Kehinde,
said the offence was punishable under sections 409
and 339 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State,
Nigeria, 2011.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor announced the presence of the
Investigating Police Officer, Ernest Nwanyanwu of
the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence
Department; a representative of the hotel,
Muhammed Shubero; and a representative of the
Chinese embassy.
The magistrate, M.O. Ope-Agbe, called the
representative of the hotel to explain what
transpired on the day of the incident.
According to Shubero, the lovers lodged in the hotel
on July 4 after necessary documentation.
He said, “Around 2am on July 5, one of the hotel
attendants smelt cigarette from their room. She
went there and warned them that smoking was
prohibited in that arena. However, they ignored her.
“In the morning, the attendant and a security guard
called me that the hotel was on fire. By the time I
got there, there was nothing left of the hotel.”
Shubero said the hotel attendant and the security
guard were ready to testify in court.
However, the Chinese couple, who spoke through an
interpreter, denied being responsible for the fire that
burnt the hotel.
Feng, in his defence, said he never smoked in the
facility.
He said, “It is true that I stayed in the hotel, but I
did not smoke. I was not around when the hotel
was on fire.”
Zhen, who also denied smoking, said she had slept
off , but suddenly woke up to discover that the
hotel was on fire and she ran for her life.
The representative of the Chinese embassy told the
court that he had gone to the police to get the
details of the case when he was told it was being
taken to court.
The magistrate, Ope-Agbe, granted the defendants
bail in the sum of N2m each with two sureties each
in like sum.
She said, “One of the sureties must be a Nigerian
and the other a Chinese. They must be responsible
sureties with evidence of tax payments to the Lagos
State Government.”
The case was adjourned till July 22, 2016, for
mention.
