Court Awards N3m Against Ex-Bayelsa Perm Sec, DSS
EMERGENCY DIGEA Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa has awarded N3million to a teenage girl facing trial over an alleged circulation of a nude video of a retired permanent secretary in the state, Dr Walton Liverpool.
The girl (name withheld) had, through her counsel, Andrew Arthur, sued the retired permanent secretary and the Department of State Services (DSS) over her arrest and detention for 13 days without trial.
According to the judgement seen yesterday, Justice Ebiyerin Omukoro awarded the damage and an additional N300,000 as costs for a breach of her fundamental human rights.
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Justice Omukoro ruled that Dr Liverpool would pay N1million while the DSS would pay an additional N2million to the teenager as damages. He noted that while the former permanent secretary had submitted a petition against the teenager to the police, who arrested her and later granted her bail, he also submitted the same petition to the 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 right of the teenager.
The DSS had on October 18, 2021 arraigned a teenage girl before a Federal High Court in Yenagoa, where she is being tried on a one-count charge of cyber-stalking.
According to the prosecution, the defendant engaged in cyber-stalking by circulating the retiree’s nude video on a Whatsapp group after she tried to blackmail the retired permanent secretary to pay her N15 million.
The teenager allegedly shot the video after an intercourse with the retired permanent secretary at a hotel in Yenagoa in August 2021.
Meanwhile, the DSS has gone to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt to challenge the decision of the High Court.
