Calabar — The Chief Judge of Cross River State, Justice Dorothy Iyamba Idem, yesterday set free an 81 year old man, Chief Ata Okon Aqua, who was in prison over robbery when she undertook a visit to the Afokang Prison in Calabar South Local Government Area of the state.
She also set free 23 others, including a pregnant woman and people suffering from HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. Justice Iyamba Idem ordered that the pregnant woman, who was detained for being in possession of 600 grammes of Indian hemp should be released because of the severe bleeding she was experiencing, with a warning that she should be of good behaviour. The Chief Judge also set free three HIV positive patients, whose cases have developed into full blown AIDS.
Justice Idem, who lamented that some cases drag on for long due to lack of police records, said it was a shame that the police and the office of the DPP were not living up to their responsibilities as prosecuting agents.
"It is a shame that we do not have records or files on some of the cases that have been under investigation for over two years. The detention of such people is tantamount to unlawful incarceration and as such, some of them have to be set free," she said.
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