Akwa Ibom State High Court, Uyo, on Thursday granted bail to a 22-year-old prison inmate, together with her bouncing baby girl in Uyo Correctional Centre after spending more than one year in detention.
The nursing mother and her younger brother were held while awaiting trial for allegedly receiving stolen phone worth N2,000.
Justice Ntong Ntong moved by the condition of the six-month-old infant, who has also been in prison since she was born September 24, 2022 granted the siblings of the nursing mother (names withheld) bail unconditionally.
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Counsel to the defendants, Barrister Samson Adula told the Court that the situation was sympathetic, in which a 40-year-old Police Inspector, arrested and detained the poor orphans, accusing them and two others of breaking into owner’s shop at Aka Etinan, Uyo in December, 2019 to steal phones and recharge cards.
The siblings were charged for conspiracy to receive stolen property and receiving stolen property.
Adula, who is the State Coordinator, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, told the court that after the arrest of the accused persons, a POS operator, a sales boy in a bakery and the prosecution abandoned them in prison.
In his ruling, Justice Ntong said the situation was enough to admit the defendants to bail especially because of the innocent infant girl.
Justice Ntong also said that the mother of the child who dropped out of school in SS 2 and her younger brother, an SS 3 dropout, were constitutionally presumed innocent.
The court said it will concede to the application for adjournment by the prosecuting counsel and excuse his absence, but that the date suggested in his application letter was not convenient to the Court.
“The defendants are hereby granted bail on self-recognisance and unconditionally to a surety who shall leave his contact address with this Court.
‘‘He shall produce them in Court on Monday, 13th March, 2023.
‘‘The Officer in charge of Uyo Correctional Centre is hereby ordered to comply with this order and release the accused persons forthwith to the said surety. I so hold,’’ Justice Ntong declared.
The defendants who are indigenes of Edem Idim Ibakesi in Ini Local Government Area, had in their extrajudicial statements said they bought an itel phone worth N2,000 from a neighbour without knowing it was stolen, which landed them in prison custody since January 2022.
Their joy knew no bounds when the Court granted them unconditional bail, thanking the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria.
They appealed to members of the public to come to their aid by providing them with a source of livelihood to take care of themselves and the newborn baby whose father abandoned during their one year in correctional custody.
The Court has adjourned the matter to Monday, 13th March, 2023.
