I was in court today for a matter and witnessed something in another case that warmed my heart. But still left me hopping mad.

3 young boys were on trial for cultism-related charges. They were being prosecuted in the State High Court by the Ministry of Justice.

The IPO was cross-examined today by counsel to the 3rd Defendant.

The IPO confirmed that the boy made a statement that he was not at the scene of the alleged crime on the day/time in question.

The IPO confirmed that the boy told him where he was on that day and who he was with.

But he never went there to talk to them.

The IPO confirmed that he went to the boy's house to search and never found anything related to cultism there.

Finally, he was asked: from the totality of your investigation and the evidence you have given, there is nothing to tie the 3rd Defendant to the offence of cultism.

After 5 minutes of looking up and down, he said, yes.

The court asked, "any re-examination?"

Prosecuting counsel took another 5 minutes rustling through her file before she said, none.

My thought: then why did was he charged?

It's like the court was reading my mind.

With the witness still in the box, he asked the prosecutor and IPO, why did you charge him?

No answer.

"How long has he been in prison awaiting trial?"

3rd Defendant counsel, "since 2018".

Court: why do you people behave like this? He told you where he was that night, you didn't go to check. You didn't see anything incriminating in his house. Yet you charged him and he's been in detention for 4 years? I will write my judgment now and acquit him!

The litigants at the back erupted in applause. I almost joined them. But held myself.

The judge discharged him immediately.

While I celebrated the triumph of justice over technicality (seeing that the judge did not wait for defence counsel to file a no case submission), I felt deep anger for what that boy had been through. For nothing.

Dear colleague in the Ministry of Justice, you are not there just to earn a salary or secure a conviction at all costs.

You are there to ensure justice is done in all matters assigned to you. Justice to the State. Justice to the victim. Justice to the accused.

Your legal advice to the police can save a mother, a wife, a family from needless sleepless nights.

Some cases should not come to court. This one should not have. If the prosecution had reviewed the file properly, she'd have seen that there was no case against this boy and recommended his release years ago.

It's at times like this that I weep for a judicial system that can not or will not compel the state to compensate a victim of wrongful prosecution.

That boy sure deserves it.

Credit: Onlinebar

they should have been made to pay damages to the boy.

That is Nigeria for you. Igboho's associates were kept in the custody of DSS for thity two days no allegation against them . After they were granted bail, they now charged them to court

Fvck d police



Now that boy might hate policemen forever

It's cases like this that Citizens of European countries pray for, they will sue hell out of that police department.

Truly, Naija deserves their ranking in the Under Developed Country list.

just waste four years in custody for been innocent..

In an advance country, the said boy won't just be acquitted but also well compensated! Imagine wasting 4 yrs out of the poor boy's life.

Things that still baffles me is, why should a case last up to at least 3months in Nigeria??

Even if the boy was guilty, it still shouldn’t exceed 3 months.

In western world, most of the cases only last for 2 or 3 weeks. So why can’t we have such technicality here in our judicial system??
Ok, he’s now innocent without any compensation awarded to him.
In totality, Nigerian Judicial system is dead and unreliable.

This is Nigeria for you, but you don't know what happened maybe the prosecuting counsel or IPO deliberately removed some facts that could make them get conviction after money have exchanged hands. I remembered when an IPO charged a suspect I knew to court and suspect was challenging the woman that, why did you do this to me after I paid some amount of money. The police said that's why I did not put this and this in your case otherwise you will have serious problem in your case. Mr Lawyer, that case was beyond what you saw in court

litigator:
I was in court today for a matter and witnessed something in another case that warmed my heart. But still left me hopping mad.

3 young boys were on trial for cultism-related charges. They were being prosecuted in the State High Court by the Ministry of Justice.

The IPO was cross-examined today by counsel to the 3rd Defendant.

The IPO confirmed that the boy made a statement that he was not at the scene of the alleged crime on the day/time in question.

The IPO confirmed that the boy told him where he was on that day and who he was with.

But he never went there to talk to them.

The IPO confirmed that he went to the boy's house to search and never found anything related to cultism there.

Finally, he was asked: from the totality of your investigation and the evidence you have given, there is nothing to tie the 3rd Defendant to the offence of cultism.

After 5 minutes of looking up and down, he said, yes.

The court asked, "any re-examination?"

Prosecuting counsel took another 5 minutes rustling through her file before she said, none.

My thought: then why did was he charged?

It's like the court was reading my mind.

With the witness still in the box, he asked the prosecutor and IPO, why did you charge him?

No answer.

"How long has he been in prison awaiting trial?"

3rd Defendant counsel, "since 2018".

Court: why do you people behave like this? He told you where he was that night, you didn't go to check. You didn't see anything incriminating in his house. Yet you charged him and he's been in detention for 4 years? I will write my judgment now and acquit him!

The litigants at the back erupted in applause. I almost joined them. But held myself.

The judge discharged him immediately.

While I celebrated the triumph of justice over technicality (seeing that the judge did not wait for defence counsel to file a no case submission), I felt deep anger for what that boy had been through. For nothing.

Dear colleague in the Ministry of Justice, you are not there just to earn a salary or secure a conviction at all costs.

You are there to ensure justice is done in all matters assigned to you. Justice to the State. Justice to the victim. Justice to the accused.

Your legal advice to the police can save a mother, a wife, a family from needless sleepless nights.

Some cases should not come to court. This one should not have. If the prosecution had reviewed the file properly, she'd have seen that there was no case against this boy and recommended his release years ago.

It's at times like this that I weep for a judicial system that can not or will not compel the state to compensate a victim of wrongful prosecution.

That boy sure deserves it.

Credit: Onlinebar

If that IPO mug knew he would lose his job for charging a person to court without evidence, do you think he would do it? A major part of Nigeria's problem is that nobody is supervising anybody, and there are no punishment for laxity and incompetence. A guy's last 4 years has been wasted because of the stupidity of a half-baked incompetent dumbf**k who was probably employed despite not being mentally fit for the job.

Many innocent people rusting in Nigeria prison awaiting trials

We study law in this country yet we don't know how to do justice. It's either we pervert justice or we do jungle Justice

ERockson:
This is Nigeria for you, but you don't know what happened maybe the prosecuting counsel or IPO deliberately removed some facts that could make them get conviction after money have exchanged hands. I remembered when an IPO charged a suspect I knew to court and suspect was challenging the woman that, why did you do this to me after I paid some amount of money. The police said that's why I did not put this and this in your case otherwise you will have serious problem in your case. Mr Lawyer, that case was beyond what you saw in court

Thanks a lot for this. You're smart.

A lot of Nigerians just jump on the bandwagon - popular opinion instead of reasoning critically.

Your submission is a very probable one. Why would the Prosecutor just cave in so meekly.

I am not buying the OP's submission at all.

That's why people foolishly kept shouting "EndSARS" without thinking that as bad as Police are, if taken off the streets, the criminals are worse. What's even worse, the George Floyd protests just a few months previously, turned into looting galore. We that could piece events together already predicted that there would be widespread merciless looting.... IT HAPPENED.

ERockson:
This is Nigeria for you, but you don't know what happened maybe the prosecuting counsel or IPO deliberately removed some facts that could make them get conviction after money have exchanged hands. I remembered when an IPO charged a suspect I knew to court and suspect was challenging the woman that, why did you do this to me after I paid some amount of money. The police said that's why I did not put this and this in your case otherwise you will have serious problem in your case. Mr Lawyer, that case was beyond what you saw in court

While I am tempted to agree with you, you won't know until you are a victim. Sometimes, police bundle people, force confessional statements on them and charge them to court for little or nothing.

I once did a case wherein a bank alleged that the suspect went over the counter to withdraw for another person's account. The police investigated and charged the person to court.

Guess what?
He was granted bail but he had to spend 8 months in Ikoyi prison because he could not perfect bail. His bank accounts were frozen and he could not even afford legal representation. I was in court on that fateful day when his case was mentioned.

God must have answered his prayers because, for reasons I am yet to understand, I informed the court that I will represent him for free, since he had not legal representation and his case was listed for cross-examination.

By the time we were done cross-examining the prosecution's first and second witnesses, the case was dead. The IPO refused to come to court after her examination-in-chief. She knew she won't survive it.

She didn't need a Prophet to tell her she did not investigate her case before charging the accused to court.

Are you going to tell me that funds exchanged hands in that case?

How about the young chap that was picked up by the police at 8 pm on that fateful evening and charged for cultism. He ended up spending 9 months in Ikoyi prison before he got freedom. Guess what?

The case never went to trial, because there was no evidence.

There are over 12 of such cases but I will stop here.

Shalom.


CC: SarakiBukola

litigator:


While I am tempted to agree with you, you won't know until you are a victim. Sometimes, police bundle people, force confessional statements on them and charge them to court for little or nothing.

I once did a case wherein a bank alleged that the suspect went over the counter to withdraw for another person's account. The police investigated and charged the person to court.

Guess what?
He was granted bail but he had to spend 8 months in Ikoyi prison because he could not perfect bail. His bank accounts were frozen and he could not even afford legal representation. I was in court on that fateful day when his case was mentioned.

God must have answered his prayers because, for reasons I am yet to understand, I informed the court that I will represent him for free, since he had not legal representation and his case was listed for cross-examination.

By the time we were done cross-examining the prosecution's first and second witnesses, the case was dead. The IPO refused to come to court after her examination-in-chief. She knew she won't survive it.

She didn't need a Prophet to tell her she did not investigate her case before charging the accused to court.

Are you going to tell me that funds exchanged hands in that case?

How about the young chap that was picked up by the police at 8 pm on that fateful evening and charged for cultism. He ended up spending 9 months in Ikoyi prison before he got freedom. Guess what?

The case never went to trial, because there was no evidence.

There are over 12 of such cases but I will stop here.

Shalom.


CC: SarakiBukola

We may both right in our position

I you know any NGO or any church dt do visit n share goodies or evangelism with prisoners, u would know dt cases like dis makes up almost 50% of the population of naija prisons..
awaiting trial n false allegations naim make prison dey over crowded.
remembered a case of a Broda in my church bk den dt went for early morning evangelism on Saturday morning not knowing it was d last Saturday n was made for compulsory environmental sanitation back den..
police carried n locked him up even after he explained himself, de asked him to call d church BT he lost his fone during his struggling
na so d gee stay prison for 3 months before one of the policeman kum report d matter Gv church to kum bail am

Kikikikikiki

paulolee:
I you know any NGO or any church dt do visit n share goodies or evangelism with prisoners, u would know dt cases like dis makes up almost 50% of the population of naija prisons..
awaiting trial n false allegations naim make prison dey over crowded.
remembered a case of a Broda in my church bk den dt went for early morning evangelism on Saturday morning not knowing it was d last Saturday n was made for compulsory environmental sanitation back den..
police carried n locked him up even after he explained himself, de asked him to call d church BT he lost his fone during his struggling
na so d gee stay prison for 3 months before one of the policeman kum report d matter Gv church to kum bail am