The death of Mr. Ndubuisi Beluolisa, an awaiting-trial inmate of Awka Prison, fouled the mood of the court yesterday when the Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Umeadi, was informed of the death development.
The armed robbery suspect, who had been in prison custody for six years without trial, was among those whose cases were to be looked into by the Chief Judge.
Beluolisa was listed among four inmates under the ‘very sick’ category whose cases were to be treated compassionately by the CJ, who has been on jail delivery in the prisons in Anambra State since last month.
When the name of Beluolisa was called to appear for his matter to be considered, the audience was taken aback when the Prison Doctor, Frank Uzor, informed the CJ that the suspect died on November 30, 2016 while in custody.
According to the doctor, the suspect started losing weight at some point and was taken to the Amaku Specialist General Hospital for proper check-up but died thereafter.
“Ndubuisi started losing weight and we took him to the Amaku Specialist Hospital and took samples of his sputum for analysis, but he later died on November 30. We suspect that he died of pulmonary tuberculosis,” the Dr Uzor announced.
Records have it that Beluolisa had, on July 9, 2010, applied for bail after the state Commissioner of Police forwarded his file to the court, which made the CJ to question why he was further kept in detention for another six years after he applied for bail.
The state Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr. Osunkwo, informed the CJ that one T.C. Obuekwe was handling Beluolisa’s file, adding that he (Osunkwo) had no idea why the case was further delayed for six years until he died in detention.
Regretting that nothing happened after the police forwarded the case file to the DPP, Justice
Umeadi directed that the family of the deceased should be written to inform them of the ugly development. He further ordered the DPP to do a letter to his office explaining what happened since the relevant officers were apportioning blame on the circumstances that led to the detention of the suspect for six years without trial.
News Express learnt that there are over 40 inmates at the Awka Prisons who have remained without trial for six to eight years.
Those who were discharged by the CJ for having stayed too long without trial include Garba Michael from Plateau State, who was charged for illegal possession of firearms in 2008 and whose case file could no longer be traced; Amaechi Ede, who was charged for burglary in 2010; Nafiu Mohammed, who has been in detention for eight years; Emmanuel Sampson, who has been in detention without trial for seven years and eight months; and Chigozie Udogu, detained without trial for five years and six months.
The jail delivery exercise, which attracted judges, magistrates, legal practitioners and other judicial workers and security operatives, witnessed the granting of bail to 12 other inmates.
The overlap between incarceration and health of the inmate must be consistently considered by both the judiciary and the prison service. Matters are made worse when the discretion of the courts was to feel indifferent to human suffering while in prison. The period of ‘awaiting trial’ or sentencing must follow the principles of expediency so as to stave off such tragedies resulting from seeming incompetence and ‘god-like’ mentality of tasked officials.A process of assessment must be among the good practice ethics whereby, having noted the ill-health of this inmate, every steps should have taken to medically assess him and appropriate referral made for medical care. What if it was an innocent inmate who would eventually be let off and released. Well, situations like this echoes the general condition of public services in Nigeria; ie, those on the ‘outside’ neither have the advantage to access reliable medical care, let alone a prisoner-in-waiting. The standard of humanity continues to fall drastically in Nigeria and it is quite concerning that so any anomalies continue to emerge despite the change gimmick – 6 years in detention awaiting trial for charges of armed robbery? It is unthinkable to assert a fair and just justice system in the country.