Woman who attempted suicide in Lagos charged to court

Woman who attempted suicide over debt arraigned in Lagos

Recall that last month, one Mrs. Taiwo Titilayo Momoh, a 51-year old textile dealer at Balogun Market, was rescued after jumping into Lagos Lagoon in a suicide attempt.

Thereafter, she was arraigned by the Police and charged by a magistrate court for attempted suicide with a fine of N500, 000 as bail charge.

Mrs. Taiwo Titilayo Momoh was reported to have jumped over the third mainland bridge a few days after Dr. Alwell Orji committed suicide via the same medium.

After being saved by officers of the Lagos State Police Command, Titilayo Momoh has been arraigned before Magistrate T. A. Elias, of Ebute Metta Magistrate Court in Lagos on Monday 24th April, by the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (CIID), Yaba, on a one-count charge.

The charge reads;

“That you Titilayo Momoh ‘f’ on the 24th day of March, 2017 at about 10:00 hours at Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos did attempt to commit suicide by jumping into the lagoon and thereby committed an offence under Section 235 Cap C17, Volume 3 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”

Although Titilayo Momoh pleaded not guilty to the charge she was granted N500, 000 bail and the presiding Magistrate ordered that she is made to undergo psychiatric evaluation before her next court appearance.

While some Nigerians say the Law against suicide must stand, some others say, seeking N500,000 from a woman who attempted suicide over her inability to pay off her debts, was not the best judgment.

Among the many voices speaking against Titilayo Momoh’s charge is that of Reno Omokri, the spokesman of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Although the crime, which is found in section 327 of the criminal code of Nigeria, prescribes one-year imprisonment for anyone who attempts suicide, Mr. Omokri thinks the judgment should be scrapped.

The Barrister says what Mrs. Titilayo Momoh needs is support, counseling and some handouts, rather than burden her with more debts.

He wrote;

“I don’t understand the point of charging failed suicides to court for attempted suicide. Do we want to drive them to succeed at suicide?

“Failed suicide needs counseling, support, understanding. Stress, pressures of life and disappointments drove them to suicide.

“By charging them to court we are only adding more stress, pressure, and disappointment to their life, further pushing them to suicide. 

“This is an archaic law that is against the principles of natural justice and need to be taken off our statute books.”

Reno Omokri went ahead to accuse the government of injustice. He said rather than the government to charge the Fulani herdsmen who killed thousands of people in the South-East, the killers of pastor Eunice Elisha who beheaded her in Kubwa, the killers of Southern Kaduna minorities, for their crime, they choose to charge Mrs. Titilayo Momoh, who is overburdened by a debt she can’t pay.