A young man who spent one year and eight months in prison custody after he was picked up during police raid while he was attempting to board a bus has now regained his freedom.
The man, whose name was given simply as Tayo, aged 31 years, was a commercial bus driver working in Lagos State.
It was gathered that On October 23, 2024, after finishing his duty, he was trying to board a bus home in the Alakara area of Mushin when a fight broke out nearby.
Before he could leave the area, however, police officers arrived, carried out a raid and picked him up with others.
Tayo was said to have insisted at the Alakara Police Station that he had nothing to do with the fight and that he had never met any of those picked up with him.
The following day, he was arraigned with others before the Ebute Metta Magistrates’ Court on a firearms-related charge. He pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.
Although the court granted him bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties, Tayo could not meet the bail conditions. He was thereafter remanded in prison custody.
His plight got to the attention of an advocacy group that usually visits prisons and courts, the Headfort Foundation for Justice and after hearing from him, one of the lawyers of the foundation took up his case and began representing him in court.
The foundation announced the development on its X handle on Friday evening.
The foundation said in January this year, court dates came and went, but the complainant and witnesses repeatedly failed to appear, making the court to adjourn.
The foundation added that it applied several times for the case to be struck out for want of diligent prosecution, but each time, the application was not granted because either the prosecutor or one of the co-defendants on bail failed to appear in court.
On July 10, however, following continued non-appearance of the prosecutor and witnesses, the lawyer applied again for the matter to be struck out for want of diligent prosecution.
This time, the court agreed that the matter could not continue indefinitely, granted the prayer of the lawyer, struck out the case, and thereafter discharged and acquitted Tayo after spending one year and eight months in prison custody.
