It was a pathetic drama in the Owerri High Court premises Friday morning when an inmate who is believed to have awaited trial in prison for upwards of seven years was acquitted of any wrong doing and discharged by an Owerri Magistrate Court. According to CrimeFacts, instead of the usual jubilation that follow any ruling of ‘discharged and acquitted’, the inmate, Sylvester Obata (not real names); wearing a long face, headed straight for the Prison van that brought them to court, only to be intercepted by a prison guard who reminded him he was free to go home.
To the chagrin of eyewitnesses, Obata said he was going nowhere demanding to be allowed entry into the Prison Van back to prison. The prison guard who mistook Obata’s statement for a weird joke was jolted when he tried to push him away from the prison van and was defiantly resisted by the freed inmate.
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