Justice Awogboro of a Federal High Court, Lagos has ordered the immediate release of a minor, a public apology and damages from respondents.
The order followed a fundamental human right suit filed on behalf of a minor, who has been in detention at Oregun Special Correctional Facility for boys, Ikeja, Lagos, for more than five years.
Named as respondents in the suit are the Commissioner of Police (COP), the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) and The Attorney-General of Lagos State.
The police didn’t either file any response to the application nor appeared in court despite being served.
State counsel from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) represented Lagos State Attorney General (third respondent) in court.
The counsel also filed processes to the effect that they didn’t receive the case file from the Police, but made efforts to get information on the case, and subsequently issued a legal advice dated February 2023 that the applicant be released though he had a case to answer, due to his age and the length of time he had spent in custody.
Justice Awogboro while delivering judgment on the case Friday, May 19, 2023, granted all the prayers of the applicant, including damages against the COP and the AG.
Counsel to the applicant, who is the Assistant Director, Legal Aid Council, Lagos Office, Grace Adenubi, explained that they met the applicant (name withheld) in 2021 when the Council visited the Special Correctional Centre for Boys, Oregun, Lagos, in partnership with the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC).
“Information from the Correctional Centre revealed that at age 13, this minor was remanded at the Centre in charge no FCB/16/2017, by the Magistrate Court 3, Agbomalu , on October 18, 2017, for alleged offences of unlawful sexual intercourse and assault.
“He attended court only three times and that was between 2017 and 2018. Since 2019 till date, he has never been taken to court,” she said.
She added that the Correctional Centre officers could no longer trace the case file.
“After the case was assigned to me, I wrote a letter to the Attorney General on the matter and copied the DPP. The response to my letter was that they were looking into the case.
“About a year after, precisely on Monday, July 4, 2022, I filed a fundamental human rights application for his release,” Adenubi added.
