Defendant dies in prison after six adjournments

A senior magistrate of a court sitting in Ijaiye-Ojokoro, Lagos State, Mrs. O.A Olayinka, on Thursday berated some officers of the Nigerian Prisons Service attached to the Kirikiri Medium Security Prison for the death of a defendant, Okenife Okeke.The magistrate blamed the prison officers for their failure to produce the defendant in the court after his first appearance on April 3, 2014.PUNCH Metro learnt that 29-year-old Okeke had been remanded in the prison while the case was adjourned till April 10. He was, however, not brought to the court until he died of diabetes in November 11 at the prison’s clinic.
”Our correspondent learnt that Okeke’s case was adjourned by the court six times after the NIS failed to produce him in court.PUNCH Metro gathered that on two occasions, the warders had adduced their failure to produce Okeke to “oversight” and “a breakdown of one of the prison’s vehicles.”It was further gathered that the deceased, who was arraigned on one count of attempted stealing, was not brought before the court on five different adjourned dates even though the magistrate issued a production warrant mandating the NPS to present the accused person.One of the adjourned date was said to have been in August when the court workers were on strike.The defendant was said to have been arrested for attempting to withdraw a sum of N25,000 from the bank account of his brother, Boniface, without the latter’s consent.The charge had read, “That you, Okenife Okeke, on February 25, 2014 at about 16.05pm, at the Zenith Bank, by Caaso bus stop, Alagbado, Lagos, in the Ikeja Magisterial District, did attempt to commit felony to wit; stealing, by presenting Zenith Bank withdrawal slip to withdraw the sum of N25,000 belonging to Boniface Okeke without his consent and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 21 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”The magistrate said the case might have been struck out if the suspect had been brought to the court.“If you (warders) have produced the defendant, I might have freed him given the weight of the allegation made against him. And possibly he might have got medical help.“I learnt that you bring defendants to court subject to whims and caprices of complainants,” she said.In a letter dated December 18, 2014 and addressed to the court, an Assistant Controller of Prison, A.I. Gbadamosi, confirmed Okeke’s demise.The letter read, “I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of a production warrant issued from your honourable court requesting the production of Okenife Okeke, who was remanded in our custody.“Sir, I regret to inform you that Okenife Okeke died of diabetic mellitus at the Medium Security Prison clinic, Kirikiri, on November 11, 2014, and a death report, dated November 14, 2014, was forwarded to your court.The death report was received by one Mrs. Bello, an employee in your honourable court.”Olayinka, who struck out another six cases for lack of seriousness on the part of the complainants, instructed the prison officers to produce one Bidemi Olaremi and Sunday John, who had been in remand for months, on December 23, 2014.

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