Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

A bizarre case came to an end when an African man who was lost in the prison system for eight years was last Friday taken from the Half-Way Tree lock-up to a Missionaries of the Poor residence in Kingston.

Ikoeo Charles, 28, was convicted in 2000 of illegal entry into the island. He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and a deportation order was recommended, but he languished for years in jail.

He served the sentence but the Immigration Department could not ascertain which African country he hailed from and so he was left in prison. Charles spent five of the eight years at the Half-Way Tree Police Station lock-up.

Heard man crying

Attorney-at-law Melrose Reid told The Gleaner that last year, while she was interviewing a client at the Half-Way Tree Police Station, she heard a man crying for help. She investigated the matter and discovered that the man had been in custody since 2000.

Reid said she felt it was important to do "voluntary work for my African brother", so she immediately brought an application in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court for Charles to be released. She was told by the court that Charles could not be released because he could not tell immigration officials his country of origin.

Reid spoke of the many applications she made before the court until the order for Charles was finally made.

Assurance of assistance

Dr Bongelo Gombele, a Zairean doctor working at Kingston Public Hospital, heard of Charles' plight and, with the assistance of the African Rescue Mission in Jamaica, gave the court the assurance that they would assist Charles.

Three weeks ago, Senior Resident Magistrate Glen Brown, after hearing another application from attorney-at-law Melrose Reid, ordered that Charles be released into the hands of the African Rescue Mission on condition that he be supervised by the Immigration Department.

The mission assisted in providing medical and psychiatric treatment for Charles. The mission contacted Father Richard Ho Lung, founder of the Missionaries of the Poor, which made provisions for Charles to stay at one of its Kingston residences.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com