Borstal System For Juvenile Detention Non-existent- Defence Counsel

The Defence Counsel for arrested #Endbadgovernance protesters, Marshall Abubakar on Saturday said there is no Borstal system for juvenile detention in Abuja.

Abubakar who currently defending all 119 defendants including minors disclosed this while speaking with Punch Correspondent.

Recall that the protesters including alleged hungry minors were arraigned on Friday at Federal High Court Abuja.

He also confirmed that the minors among the 119 remanded protesters were in the custody of the SARS IRT, adding that they were kept in a large hall as the purported Borstal system for juvenile detention was non-existent.

“The children were taken to IRT SARS. There is a big hall there where they are kept because there is actually no Borstal Centre.”

Abubakar noted that steps were being taken to drop the charges against the children this week, especially since the AGF had requested transfer of the case file.

“The government has been calling; the AGF has called. I think, most likely, by next week (this week) we will get the charges thrown out,”

Another source knowledgeable about the case told our correspondent on Saturday that the AGF’s office was considering filing an affidavit of urgency and an application on Monday before the court.

Meanwhile, human rights activist and lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, has raised the alarm over the whereabouts of two children arrested by the police.

Adeyanju said the minors were supposed to be arraigned alongside the 76 accused persons brought to court on Friday.

He noted that the two children were on the list of those earlier taken to court by the police to obtain a remand warrant a few months ago.

The activist called on the attorney general to use his good offices to discontinue the case.

It took a lot of effort for us to get the children to be brought to court on Friday. Two of them who were originally arrested were not even brought to court. We don’t know their whereabouts or what has happened to them. Their names were on the warrant obtained from the court, but they were never brought to court on Friday,” Adeyanju

Punch Newspaper