DENIED ACCESS TO SON
Dutchman protests ‘injustice and bullying’ by Maltese judicial system, police
A Dutch national yesterday took to Republic Street once more to protest his alleged ‘injustice’ at the hands of the Maltese authorities.
Chukwudi Samuel Onyeabor, who was born in Nigeria, told this newspaper how he was ‘bullied’ by the Maltese judicial system and the police force and has been forced to spend nine years in Malta.
He has been out on bail since 2008, when he was arrested for cocaine possession shortly after he landed in Malta in what was supposed to be a holiday. The man says he has been wrongly accused. Mr Onyeabor, more commonly known as Tithe Samuel, originally came from Nigeria, and prior to living in Malta, was living in The Netherlands and in America.
Yesterday was not the first time he protested in Republic Street, wearing placards around his neck, claiming that he has been subjected to “9 years of bullying, death threats, harassments, injustice.”
He also claims this has led him to “obtain a criminal path, deprivation of paid employment and medical opinion from the Netherlands to remove a tumor from his back and also ‘keeping [him] away from [his] 14 year old son.”
On his website Mr Onyeabor states how he migrated from Nigeria to Europe in 2002, with the sole ‘sincere’ intention of settling down and having a family, following his ‘marriage to a Dutch lady’. Under the tab titled ‘injustice,’ Mr Onyeabor tells his story. ‘The uniqueness of my situation holds as an example of the discrimination and injustice bestowed on foreigners (especially the black ones) by the Maltese Judicial System,” his website states.
Seemingly shocked by a statement he allegedly received, Mr Onyeabor recalls how, upon arrest a “superior police officer” had warned him “co-operate and you will get a lesser sentence. If not, you will get a sentence as the ring-leader.”
Mr Onyeabor writes that he does not have all the guarantees necessary for his defense in a case brought against him by a much stronger party, adding that there was also intimidation to contend with.
Both Mr Onyeabor’s placards and his website frequently refer to the European law which states that ‘Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense’.
Evident from his blog, it is not the first time that Mr Onyeabor has taken to Republic Street, to protest his situation. A variety of signs depicting his story and the message he wishes to get across are worn in Republic Street with each protest. A couple of years ago, when he began protesting his placard read: ‘Underneath this foreigner is a human being created by God. Treat me fairly’.
He hopes that by protesting, he will gain interest and attention to his situation.
He has been out on bail since 2008, when he was arrested for cocaine possession shortly after he landed in Malta in what was supposed to be a holiday. The uniqueness of my situation holds as an example of the discrimination and injustice bestowed on foreigners (especially the black ones) by the Maltese Judicial System.