People at the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s court were left astonished Tuesday on hearing the cases of two men who were left to languish in state custody for a combined seven years without being sentenced, merely because they were forgotten by the authorities.

Twenty-six-year-old Charles Exieto (spelt Ickto by him), a foreigner, spent the last six years in custody at the Half-Way-Tree police lock-up after being imprisoned in 2001, while 20-year-old Sean Edwards, of no fixed address, was taken into custody on April 27 last year and until Tuesday was being held at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre.

Exieto was taken into police custody in 2001 after allegedly setting fire to a building in the Twin Gates Plaza in Kingston, behind which he allegedly slept at nights. He was charged with arson but was subsequently determined as unfit to plead and was ordered deported from the island.

But sources at the courthouse said although Exieto was listed as a Nigerian citizen, the authorities had difficulties in determining his true nationality due to his mental state and his lack of documentation.

With no one seeking vigorously to see to his departure from Jamaica, his case fell into administrative limbo, leaving him to suffer in police custody.

According to an Observer source, Exieto’s case was again brought before the courts after he was stumbled upon by the arresting officer who was, by chance, walking through the lock-up on Monday.

The cop, it is alleged, brought the matter to the attention of Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey who had the case called up before her on Tuesday. Very vocal in her dissatisfaction with the administrative mishaps, Pusey pledged to ensure that Exieto received justice.

“I shudder to think that I could go to his country and end up like him. I intend to make a noise about it if no one else will,” she said.

She then ordered that Exieto be taken to the Bellevue Hospital for treatment before other steps could be taken to have him returned to his homeland.

Shortly after disposing of Exieto’s case, Pusey was confronted with Edwards’ situation.

Edwards, the court was told, was taken into custody last year on a charge of malicious destruction of property after using a stone to damage a motor car. He was, however, determined as unfit to plead. In a court appearance relating to the matter, a judge allegedly ordered that he be taken to a psychologist for an examination. However, no attempt, it is alleged, was ever made to have Edwards examined, and he too found himself languishing behind bars.

His misery ended, however, when Beverly Stewart, a supervisor at the Learning for Earning Activity Programme (LEAP) centre, came across the mentally challenged man during a visit to the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre earlier this month.

Stewart, who had taught Edwards while he was enrolled at the LEAP centre, managed to examine his file and was eventually successful in having his case listed for Tuesday’s sitting of the Half-Way-Tree court.

On Tuesday, Stewart’s LEAP centre colleague, Ann Marie Boswell-Reid, told the court that Edwards was abandoned by his mother and father at a young age. She said some years ago, while he was at the LEAP centre, they managed to find his father, a policeman.

His father, according to Boswell-Reid, showed minimal interest in him and eventually left him to fend for himself once again.

Following Boswell-Reid’s testimony, RM Pusey ordered that the charges against Edwards be dismissed and told him he was free to go, much to his delight.

An elated Boswell-Reid told the Observer afterwards that Edwards was not mentally disabled, but slow due to his difficult childhood.

“He went to Dunoon Technical High School, but he had to drop out because he didn’t have the strong family support to keep him,” she said. “He also represented Jamaica in tae-kwon-do. In fact, we have several trophies for him down at the LEAP centre. He was supposed to go to Cuba to represent Jamaica but because he didn’t have a passport or papers because he was abandoned, we had to pause that.”