Press Release/
Toheeb Oyekunle is a bike man as well as a fashion designer who lives at Saje area of Abeokuta, Ogun State.
On the 30th of July, 2021 while at the junction where he parked his bike and waiting for passengers, a lady and her mother approached where he was to challenge and accuse him of being the thief who came to their house to burgle and steal the sum of ₦6,000 and a small phone. The lady said Toheeb stammers like the thief who came to their house and so, it must have been Toheeb who committed the crime.
Toheeb immediately denied the allegations and arguments ensued. While he was still arguing with them, the police arrived at the scene and after listening to the allegations, they arrested him.
He was charged to court for the offences of cultism, stealing, rape and unlawful possession of an axe. He was granted bail by the court but couldn’t perfect it because he had no money and none of his family showed up for him because they were not aware he was in prison. He once had a lawyer but the lawyer stopped appearing for him because he could not perfect his brief.
In May 2022, during one of our cell visitations of taking cases of inmates, Toheeb met Headfort Foundation at the court cell the day he was brought to court.
Our Lawyer, @silverobioha took his case, and started representing him afterwards. The reasons Toheeb remained in custody without any progress in his case are that; no witnesses showed up including the IPO and the court not sitting frequently.
On the 25th of October, we made an application for striking out of the charge as witnesses were still not coming to court and his case was struck out for want of diligent prosecution by the court.
Toheeb spent 1 year and 4 months in custody.
It is disheartening to know that there are still many more people like Toheeb languishing in custody across Nigeria prisons today. Kindly support our work by becoming one of our donors so that more Inmates can be helped to regain freedom.
You can donate here: 6199153012, Headfort Foundation. FCMB Bank.
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Thank you for your kind support towards Access to Justice!
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