From Jude Dangwam, Jos

A Plateau State-based legal practitioner, Francis Nenrot has faulted the trial and sentencing of eight minors at a Mobile Court II sitting in Bassa Local Government Area of the state.

Nenrot is member of the team of lawyers that offered free service in defence of 347 people arrested in the wake of youth uprising in the state by security agencies.

In an interview with DAILY ASSET in Jos, the Lawyer accused the Mobile Court of using a clause in “Traffic Law” called “Strict Liability’ to sentence the minors to four months imprisonment with an option of N10,000 fine.

He maintained that justice was not done to the accused persons and promised to appeal the sentencing of the eight female indigenes of the state brought before Court II in Bassa.

“It took us some underground investigation to even establish that the trial of the suspects will take place in Bassa LGA of the state. And mind you, Bassa LGA is far from the State capital and was not under the curfew imposed by the Governor, making the whole thing look suspicious.

“When we arrived Bassa LGA, we discovered that the Court is eight not seven again as earlier on announced by government maybe to fas-track the process. So, we had to shared ourselves into six person per team. And I was the one heading Court II.

“These suspects were brought in batches, the first were five male suspects which non is a minor but we pleaded for padone for all the accused persons because they are first time offenders but that never work,” Barrister Francis noted.

He added that, “Out of the five charges level against them, four were later set aside and they were all charged on bleach of the curfew hours imposed on Jos North and Jos South LGA using Section 114 of the State Pinal Law.

“So, what stroked me most is when another batch of ten (10) females were brought to the Court II. Out of these number (8) minors and as defence counsel, we have to asked them some questions before trials.

“The two sisters narrated that they were three, their elder sister who is 17 years old, the other one 14 years and third one 12 years old were carrying food inside food flasks taking it to their sick mother at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and were stopped by security personnel. Even when they explained that they are taking food to their mother, the security insisted that they violated the curfew.

They said the security personnel allowed their elder sister, who is 17 to take the food to JUTH while the younger ones were picked inside security van and finally sentence at the Mobile Court II in Bassa LGA.

“We objected in our defense that is not under the Jurisdiction of a Mobile Court to tied minor because is an open Court and minors are been tried in a closed door. The judge noted our argument but he still went ahead to sentence these  female minors using ‘Strict Liability’ which is not found in the Section 114 of the Plateau State Administration of Criminal Justice law 2017 as signed by the state Governor.

“The Court was in a hurry to sentence these poor Plateau citizens and they hurriedly do so. Government must always ensure they sentence people strictly in line with the law especially when it has to do with the future of young people like these ones. And we are going on appeal because this judgement cannot stand,” he furiously stated