The family of Gospel Kinanee has demanded justice after he was reportedly found in the Port Harcourt Correctional Centre 18 years after he disappeared from home as a 14-year-old boy.
Gospel’s elder brother, who narrated the family’s ordeal, said the victim went missing in 2007 after leaving home to play with his peers.
According to him, Gospel had returned home earlier that day to eat before going out again, but he never came back.
He said the family became worried when the teenager failed to return home by 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., prompting a search across the community.
“We noticed he was missing around 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. when he did not come back home to sleep. My parents and everyone else were worried. We searched everywhere for him, but we could not find him,” he said.
The family initially thought Gospel might have gone to spend the night with a friend, but their fears deepened when the search continued for days without success.
He said the family searched police stations, hospitals, prison yards and several parts of Ogoni and Port Harcourt, but found no trace of him.
The elder brother said the disappearance shattered the family and contributed to the death of their parents, who both died the same year due to the emotional trauma.
“His disappearance led to the death of my father and mother. They both died the same year when the pain became too much for them to bear,” he said.
He added that their father sold several properties, including a large farmland for ₦300,000, in a desperate search for Gospel.
According to him, the family eventually gave up hope and believed Gospel was dead, until early 2025 when he received a call informing him that his brother had been found in Port Harcourt Correctional Centre.
He said he initially dismissed the information because the family had searched for years without success.
“I told them that my brother was dead because we had searched for him for years and given up, only for someone to call me 18 years later, saying he had been found,” he said.
He explained that Gospel was discovered by a group of lawyers who had gone to the correctional centre on a prison welfare and inmate rehabilitation mission.
The lawyers reportedly contacted the family and asked them to come to the correctional centre for identification and possible release.
When he got to the lawyers’ office, he met the team lead, Cyrus Onu, who interviewed him and completed some documentation before taking him to the Director of the Correctional Centre.
He said he broke down in tears when he saw Gospel, who was no longer mentally stable and could not recognise him.
“Immediately I got there, I saw my brother outside, but he could no longer recognise me. I broke down in tears because I recognised him, and he was not looking sane at all,” he said.
“He had been in prison for 18 years. He was locked up there when he was 14 years old, and he is now 32 years old.”
The family said Gospel was healthy, normal and agile before he disappeared, adding that his present mental condition raised serious questions about what happened to him while in custody.
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