By Desire Emmanuel
A young man who spent one year, three months in prison custody after he was wrongly accused of stealing a phone at a mechanic workshop near a motor park where he spent the night has now regained his freedom after he was discharged and acquitted by a court.
The man, whose name was given simply as Tope, was said to have relocated to Ekiti State in 2023 in search of a better life before trouble began for him.
According to a statement by an advocacy group, the Headfort Foundation for Justice, on Friday, on June 30, 2024, Tope went to the motor park to retrieve his phone, which he had previously left with a driver as part payment for transport fare.
However, he did not meet the driver that day and he was advised at the park to return early the next morning. But in order not to pay another transport fare to and from his house, he decided to sleep in front of a mechanic shop near the park.
At about 5 o’clock the next morning, a woman alleged that someone broke into her room and stole a phone.
While searching for the phone, she and other residents found Tope where he was sleeping and he was accused of being the person that stole the phone. He was apprehended on the spot and handed over to the police, even though the stolen phone was not found with him.
The police were said to have detained him and the next day, they brought an application before the court to remand him pending legal advice.
The court granted the application, and Tope was remanded at the Ado-Ekiti Medium Correctional Centre.
Months later, during a routine visit by the Chief Judge in November 2024, he was granted a ₦100,000 bail with one surety, but due to his inability to meet the bail conditions, he was returned to the prison.
His plight got to the attention of the foundation during one of its visits to the correctional centre and after hearing from him, one of its lawyers began to represent him in court.
The foundation wrote: “On April 10, 2025, the trial began, and while the prosecution called two witnesses, none could directly link Tope to the theft. Our lawyer presented Tope’s defence clearly and firmly, telling the court that he had been wrongly accused.”
By July 21, 2025, both prosecution and defence had presented their final arguments, and the judge reserved judgment.
On October 15, 2025, the court declared Tope innocent, discharged and acquitted him of the charge after he had spent one year, three months behind bars for a crime he did not commit.
