Relief has temporarily come the way of an 18-year-old female inmate of Warri Custodial Centre, popularly known as Okere Prison, who delivered her baby two weeks ago through a caesarean birth.
The accused, Miss Beauty Obi from Obingwa in Imo State, was arrested with her boyfriend, who was about to sell a stolen phone.
The lovebirds were confined in the Warri prison before visiting Chief Judge of the state, Honourable Justice Tessy Diai, who graciously granted her bail with the sum of N250,000, with one surety in like sum.
Justice Diai, however, assisted the girl with the sum of N20,000 after hearing about her condition.
The Deputy Controller of the custodial centre, Mr Edo Joseph Lucky, had earlier narrated the pathetic ordeal of the teenage mother who was pregnant before she was admitted to the centre along with her boyfriend.
According to him, the young mother was taken to the Warri Central Hospital where she gave birth through a caesarean section. He added that her baby was placed in an incubator for one week before being reunited with the mother in custody.
Mr Edo further disclosed that during the week the child spent in the incubator, the prison authority was spending N1000 hourly. This informed his appeal to the Chief Judge to grant her bail to enable her to go to her parents for proper care.
Narrating the circumstances that brought her to the centre, the accused claimed she was unaware of how her boyfriend got the phone, stating that she was innocent of the armed robbery charge preferred against her. She also thanked the Chief Judge for the financial assistance.
Out of the 539 warrants of inmates reviewed, the Chief Judge discharged five based on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions that they had no case to answer.
Among them were Lofore Difference (37), Innocent Okpaghe (37), Umukoro Kingsley (51), and Chenago Wisdom (29), who were charged with various offences ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder.
Meanwhile, Justice Diai has given a breakdown of warrants reviewed during her 2023 second-quarter visits to the five custodial centres in the state.
Rounding off the exercise at the Sapele Custodial Centre, the Chief Judge stated that a total of 1,587 warrants were reviewed, including 298 in Kwale, with four released and four granted bail; 539 in Warri, with four released and one granted bail; and 207, 180, and 368 warrants reviewed in Agbor, Sapele, and Ogwashi-Uku, respectively.
She commended the authorities of the various centres for their efforts and commitment to ensuring that inmates were taken to court for trial despite logistic challenges occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy.