Four more inmates regained freedom yesterday at the Sapele Custodial Center courtesy of the State Chief Judge, Honorable Justice Tessy Diai in continuation of the jail delivery exercise.
This brings the total number so far released to eight, having discharged four defendants earlier at the Warri prison.
The four who breathed the air of freedom were Anthony Edafiaga, Moses Oghenevwegba, Onoriode Ibru, and Precious Atanunu. They were alleged to have committed offenses ranging from unlawful carnal knowledge, arson, stealing, and conspiracy.
While discharging Anthony Edafiaga accused of unlawful carnal knowledge, Justice Diai noted that there was neither case file, no charge preferred against him nor information filed by the Director of Public Prosecution.
She stated that in the circumstance, there was no lawful justification for the continued detention of the accused person.
The Chief Judge who reviewed 242 warrants, explained that the two main reasons for the quarterly prison visit were to ensure that inmates were lawfully held in custody and their cases were going on in the courts.
In a welcome address, the officer in charge of Sapele Custodial Center, Chief Superintendent of Corrections, George Ealefor thanked the Chief Judge for the visit.
He disclosed that the Centre which was established in 1904 with an official capacity of 293 inmates now has a population of 326 inmates.
Giving a breakdown of the statistics, Mr. Ealefor stated that the convicted inmates comprised of 85 males, and one female; unconvicted 235 males and five females.
He appealed to the Chief Judge to give concession to custodial cases during court proceedings, release warrants to officers of the Centre immediately after court proceedings to enable inmates to be taken back to custody, and give custodial centres notices when courts were not sitting, among others.
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