ENUGU, Nigeria β€” A heartbroken widow, Mrs. Theresa Nwosu, has cried out to human rights organizations and the federal government to intervene in the case of her son, Jude Nwosu, who has spent the last 28 years on death row for a crime she insists he never committed. Speaking in a highly emotional interview on Saturday, the elderly widow detailed how her son was arrested as a 17-year-old teenager and now remains trapped in the capital offenses section of the Enugu Maximum Security Custodial Centre at the age of 45. A Teenage Errand Interrupted by Tragedy Recalling the fateful day in 1998 that altered her family's life forever, Mrs. Nwosu explained that Jude was a promising secondary school student who had high hopes of studying engineering. The nightmare began when she sent him on a simple errand to buy household groceries at a nearby local market square. While walking along the commercial strip, a sudden commotion broke out as an angry mob began chasing a group of armed robbers who had just raided a local boutique. In the ensuing panic and chaos, bystanders randomly grabbed Jude, who was running alongside the terrified crowd to seek safety. Despite his frantic protestations of innocence and the lack of any stolen merchandise or weapons in his possession, the local vigilantes handed the teenager over to a nearby police patrol team. Torture and a Tainted Trial Mrs. Nwosu alleged that the subsequent police investigation was deeply compromised by a lack of professional forensics and severe institutional misconduct. She stated that her young son was subjected to days of physical torture at the station, ultimately forcing him to sign a pre-written confession statement under extreme duress. Because our family could not afford a seasoned private legal practitioner, Jude was assigned a state defense counsel who barely spent time reviewing the brief or challenging the prosecution's contradictory timelines, the widow lamented. The trial culminated in a devastating conviction under the Robbery and Firearms Special Provisions Act, with the court sentencing the teenager to death by hanging. Since that verdict, Jude has spent nearly three decades in a cramped death row cell, watching fellow inmates go to the gallows while his youth evaporated behind bars. A Failing Health and a Mother's Final Prayer The long-term psychological and physical toll of indefinite confinement has severely broken the 45-year-old prisoner. Mrs. Nwosu revealed that during her recent monthly visits to the correctional facility, her son appeared highly emaciated and is currently battling chronic respiratory issues and failing eyesight brought on by poor ventilation and harsh living conditions. I am an old woman, and my strength is leaving me, Mrs. Nwosu cried, wiping away tears. My only prayer to God is that I should not die leaving my innocent son on death row. He was just a boy of 17 when they took him; now his hair is turning gray in prison for a robbery he knew nothing about. The aging widow made a passionate appeal to the Governor of Enugu State, the Attorney-General, and non-governmental legal aid groups to review Jude's case files, exercise the power of prerogative of mercy, or commute the sentence to facilitate his long-overdue return to society.