A 40-year-old man, Toyese Kehinde, who allegedly died in the cells of Benin Central Prisons in the early hours of 9 September, 2013, was buried by authorities of the prisons authorities without the consent of his family members.
Kehinde, a musician and father of six children, was sentenced to two weeks imprisonment following his failure to pay the N5,000 fine option granted him by Egor Magistrate’s Court 1, in Benin City, southern Nigeria, over environmental Offense. The family allegedly got to know about his fate through a friend of the late Kehinde who informed them of his arrest and imprisonment.
Following his failure to show up at home at the expiration of his jail term, his brother, Adewale Kehinde, and another friend approached the Prisons authority to demand for the release of their son, only to be told that the convict had died and had been buried.
“We saw him last on the Friday of the environmental day. We later heard that he was arrested for flouting environmental restrictions and was sentenced to two weeks imprisonment as he was unable to pay the option of N5000 fine. When he failed to return after two days, we went to the prisons, only to be told that he died on 9 September and was buried. The man who spoke to us gave us a paper that he died.”They revealed.
Adewale said it was disturbing that his brother died in the custody of the prisons officials and was buried without them telling the family members, even though there was a contact name and address given by the late Toyese while in their custody.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Edo State Prisons Headquarters, Suleman Aminu, claimed he has no knowledge of the death of the convict.
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