A Bayelsa State High Court has awarded N3 million in damages to a teenage girl, Charlotte Delhi, over breach of her fundamental human rights by the Department of State Security (DSS).
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Delhi, who is standing trial for circulating the nude video of a retired permanent secretary, Chief Walton Liverpool, was arrested and remanded in the custody of the DSS.
In the suit SHC/23FHR/2021, Delhi’s counsel, Andrew Arthur, sought an application to remove and quash the order of a Magistrate court which remanded the applicant for 30 days in the custody of the DSS, and an order to enforce her fundamental human rights.
Justice Ebiyerin Omukoro, in his judgment, awarded the damage and additional N300, 000 as costs for breach of her fundamental human rights. The court ruled that Liverpool would pay N1 million, while the DSS would pay an additional N 2 million to the teenager as damages.
Omukoro noted that while Liverpool had submitted a petition against the teenager to the police, who arrested her and later granted her bail, the permanent secretary submitted the same petition to DSS for the same offence.
He, therefore, ruled that using multiple security agencies to detain the teenager amounted to intimidation and high handedness, which breached the fundamental human rights of the teenager.
“In the final analysis, the Applicant (teenager) has made out a case of infringement of her constitutional rights to personal liberty, dignity and freedom of movement between October 3 and 8, 2021, to October 13, 2021, when she was arrested and detained without charge, or a court order by the third respondent (DSS).
“The applicant has equally shown that her remand was without probable cause shown by the third respondent and, therefore, irregular, null and void and violation of section 266 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Bayelsa 2019,” Omukoro held.
The judge, who frowned that she was denied access to her family, despite his order of bail, ordered the DSS to tender a public apology to her, in a newspaper circulating widely within Bayelsa State.
The trial of Delhi over charges of cyber-stalking is ongoing at the Federal High Court, Yenagoa.
The trial of the teenager is ongoing, while the DSS has headed to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt to challenge the decision of the Bayelsa State High Court on the fundamental human rights enforcement of the teenager
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