I will be killed if I go home - Discharged inmate

There was a mild drama at the Aguata prisons in Anambra State when a defendant, Tobias Mbaekwe, who was granted bail on health condition, declined to leave the prison environment despite family’s readiness to meet the bail conditions.

Mbaekwe, from Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state, was among three juveniles who were incarcerated at the medium security prisons, Aguata while 10 others were freed by the State Chief Judge, Justice Peter Umeadi on health grounds and delay in prosecution.

The defendant fell on the floor shortly after the ruling that he would be granted bail, begging the chief judge to allow him stay back in prison where, he said, his life would be more secured.

He told the court that his relatives, numbering 31, have ganged up to kill him.

“They said they will kill me if I come back home. They grabbed my father’s land after killing him in 1980. They latter kidnapped me and threatened to kill me and that is why they abandoned me here since 2012,” he said.

Justice Umeadi, however directed the Aguata Prisons Welfare Officer to take the defendant to the DPO of Ozubulu Police station who would in turn accompany him home.

He also directed that the defendant be visited every three months, adding that he could be re-arraigned by the DPO anytime they wanted to prosecute him.

The chief judge, during his visit to the prison for jail delivery service, also discharged a 34-year-old man, Obinna Nwankwo Udemgba, who was incarcerated since 2013 but without prosecution by the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP).