Uproar has greeted the continued detention of two teenagers, Chinedu Ogboo and Chima Ossai, in the facility of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Anambra Police Command, since February 16 without trial.
Ogboo and Ossai are both workers at Dexin Nigeria Limited, a plastic company which manufactures single use food packs on Atani Road, Odoekpe area of Ogbaru Local Council of Anambra State.
They were arrested and handed over to the Police on the allegation that they were responsible for the fire incident in a section of the company. Since their arrest, they have been detained at Atani Police Division, Okpoko Police Division and currently at the SCID for over a month so far.
The father of Ogboo, Mr Emmanuel Ogboo, had raised the alarm over the health of his son, describing their continued incarceration without recourse to the rule of law as persecution.
He said all efforts made to secure the bail of the boys, including getting the matter charged to court, had been fruitless as the company representatives had not shown up at the Police on any scheduled date.
He alleged that the company had simply given the Police Command in Anambra the instruction to detain his son and other accused persons to ensure they suffer unjustly.
Reacting, Mr Reginald Uzoechi, a lawyer, said no suspect should be in Police custody for more than 48 hours without being charged to a court of law.Uzoechi said though being underaged did not immune them from due process of investigation and prosecution, adding that it amounted to gross abuse of their fundamental human rights if their detention was not authorise by a court.
“The law requires that when you arrest a suspect, you should charge them to court not later than 48 hours, but if upon being arraigned, the court grants that the Police should detain them, you can do that for as long as the court permits.
“It is illegal and an abuse of human rights to throw people into detention perpetually, more so, when they are teenagers.
“It will amount to exposing them to real criminals, which will leave them mentally bruised,” he said. When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of SCID, Anambra, Mr Akin Fakorede said the case against the suspects was not a mere allegation as they were seen on camera setting the place on fire.
He said the case file was being prepared by the Directorate of Public Prosecution and the suspects would be charged soon without giving any specific date.
But the lawyer representing the teenage detainees, Mr Felix Chukwuma said the Police and the company were frustrating the bail and arraignment of the suspects. Chukwuma said it has become a case of violation of fundamental human rights of the children and that he was proceeding to court to seek redress. He said the arson they were being accused of was not a capital offence like murder and armed robbery and that the case was a bailable one.
According to him, the accusation was still within the realm of allegation and only a court of law had the competence to determine if it was true.
He argued that it was wrong for the Police to keep the teenagers for more than 24 hours on a matter they had not been proven guilty of.
“Police is not a court of law that should say whether an allegation was true or not, if you have evidence against them, you should charge them to court and you do not need to throw them into the cell for one month to do that.
“The Police said it is the complainant that will decide if they should be granted bail or not but that is not correct, they can be granted bail and called up whenever they are needed in court,” he said. When contacted, a representative of the company, Mr Bartholomew Okafor said he would not comment on the matter as it is now with the police.
“I cannot speak on the matter, everything is in the hands of the Police who are handling it,” he said.
