By Nelson Utip
A Legal Practitioner and Human Rights Activist, Favour Enuji has called on the Delta State Chief Judge and the State Judiciary to release Chiemere Nneji, a 17-year-old male who is roasting at The Agbor Police Station after being convicted for rape.
It was gathered that Nneji was sentenced to three years in prison on November 29, 2023, after a panel led by Justice C.N. Ogadi convicted him at a family court in the state sitting at the High Court Agbor.
According to reports, the teenager was said to have committed the crime when he was 15 years old while the female victim (name withheld) was 13 years of age which made the court to sentence him to three years in prison after finding him guilty of the crime
He said, “The court specifically ordered for the prison term of the juvenile to be served at the Delta State Children Remand Home in Sapele.
“However, despite the above directive of the family court, Master Chiemere Nneji was taken from the court and detained at the dungeon of the Nigeria Police Agbor, with mentally unstable and other hardened criminal suspects.
“The family court of Delta State sitting at the High Court Agbor ordered for Master Chiemere Nneji to serve a term of imprisonment for three years having been found liable after two years.”
Enuji observed that Nneji had already spent two of the three years, maintaining that the police officials on duty confirmed that the minor was arrested on court order.
The lawyer observed that Nneji, was being stripped naked ,nursing multiple untreated injuries on his face and legs and is sick which makes him shiver and convulse uncontrollably with multiple rashes on his skin.
He urged the state Chief Judge, The Delta State Ministry of Women Affairs, The Delta State Ministry of Justice, The Human Rights community, and the general public to intervene in the case in which a minor will be detained for more than a week in violation of the family court’s decision and Nneji’s rights under the Child Rights Act and the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution.
