Deaf And Dumb Man Pleads Not Guilty To Drug Trafficking
Abass Hamed, a 23-year-old deaf and dumb man, has been arraigned before Justice Jude Dagat of a Lagos Federal High Court by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly peddling “marijuana” otherwise known as Cannabis.
Hamed was reportedly caught with one kilogramme of Canabis, after which he was arrested by operatives of the NDLEA on February 18, 2014, along Agege Motor road, Agege, Lagos state.
According to the NDLEA, Hamed had been in custody since 2014 due to difficulty in getting a sign language interpreter to interpret the charge levelled against him by the enforcement agency.
Advertisement
“Hamed acted contrary to Section 11(c) of the National Drugs Laws Enforcement Agency Act Cap N30, Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and is liable to be punished under the same law,” the NDLEA prosecutor, Mr. Jerry Aernan, told the court during hearing of the case.
The NDLEA had hired one Francis Peters, a sign language interpreter, who interpreted Hamed’s charge to him before the court on Tuesday.
But the deaf and dumb pleaded not guilty to the charge via sign language. The case has since been adjourned till November 5 and 7, 2016 for commencement of Hamed’s trial.
