By Agbaragu Timothy
Luck smiled on four Inmates of the Kwale Custodial Centre as they regained freedom courtesy of the Delta State Chief Judge, Honourable Justice Tessy Diai at the commencement of second quarter jail delivery exercise.
According to the Chief Judge, who also granted bail to other four inmates stated that she discharged them based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), stating that they have no case to answer.
The fortunate inmates: Festus Okpro ( 35 ); Friday Michael ( 32 ); Precious Obinna ( 20 ) and Okeghi John ( 60 ) were charged for offences ranging from unlawful society, robbery, attempted murder, murder and conspiracy to commit felony.
While granting bail to Okumo Emmanuel, Ujerekre Omokoro, Ebi Daniel and Onitsha Cornelius who were charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, Armed Robbery, Justice Diai stated that the prosecuting counsel A. O. Suoware said that the only charge against the defendants was illegal possession of firearms and that the witness who ought to testify in respect of other charges had declined and refused to come to court.
She pointed out that based on the submission of the counsel, the Director of the Public Defender in the Ministry of Justice Uyi Edomwonyi, Esq. applied for bail of the four inmates under section 243 (1) ACJL 2022 on the ground that they had been in custody since 2019 without trial.
The Chief Judge therefore granted the bail application in the sum of N500, 000 ( Five Hundred Thousand Naira ) each with surety in like sum and that the surety must be resident within jurisdiction.
A 20 years old female who was among the discharged inmates, Precious Obinna from Imo State, narrated the circumstances that took her to prison custody.
She said that she just visited the boyfriend at Abbi in Ndokwa West Local Government Area and while with him, the Police raided the area and arrested her and the boyfriend for alleged murder of a young man whose corpse was found close to the house.
Miss Obinna who shedded tears of joy claimed innocent of the framed up charge saying that she has learned her lesson from that incident for the need to heed parents advice. She thanked God, the Chief Judge and DPP for thorough assessment and scrutiny of the case file and found out that she was innocent of the alleged crime
The Chief Judge who reviewed 293 warrants of inmates at the custodial centre lauded the excellent performance of Judges, magistrates, DPP, the Police, Chief Registrar and his team, particularly Honourable Justice F. O. Enenmo in charge of Kwale zone, for ensuring speedy dispensation of justice in his court, promising to introduce award for deserving Judges.
Agbaragu Timothy
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