After 18 years without trial, boy who vanished at age 14, is discovered in Port Harcourt prison as ‘Ghost’

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This is incredibly heartbreaking and depressing.

Read this, please.

AFTER 18 YEARS IN PRISON AS A “GHOST,” GOSPEL KINANEE FINALLY GAINS FREEDOM—REUNITED WITH FAMILY AFTER VANISHING AT AGE 14

In a moment that brought tears to many eyes and renewed our hope in humanity, Gospel Uebari Kinanee, who has been locked away in silence and forgotten for 18 long years, has finally regained his freedom—thanks to the tireless efforts of our team at Haven360 Foundation.The Haven Foundation

We first met Gospel during one of our outreach visits in September 2024. He stood apart—not just physically, but in spirit. He barely spoke, his eyes were distant, his thoughts fragmented. But there was something in him that called out for help, for healing, for justice.

As we dug deeper, we encountered a shocking discovery: there was no record of Gospel in the prison system. No case file. No documentation. It was as if he didn’t exist. A ghost behind bars. Authorities had no answers. Prison officials could only say he had “been there for years.” How many? No one could say. Why? No one knew.

But we were determined not to leave Gospel behind.

Despite his mental condition and difficulty communicating, we pressed on—believing that no human being deserves to be abandoned and erased in such a cruel way. After months of letters, investigations, petitions, and sleepless nights, our team traced a possible lead back to a village in Ogoni, Rivers State.

And there, everything changed.

We found Gospel’s family.

His name was not a number. He had not always been lost. He had been loved.

According to his heartbroken family, Gospel went missing in 2007, when he was just 14 years old. He had been sleeping outside one night when, according to his own account in his native Ogoni language, he was forcefully taken away by a group of policemen—allegedly incited by an influential neighbor for reasons he does not understand. He remembers only waking up behind prison walls. That’s where his childhood ended. That’s where time stopped for him.

His family searched endlessly. They knocked on doors, reported to authorities, prayed, hoped, and eventually mourned him as dead—until, just two days ago, they received a call from Haven360 Foundation that Gospel was alive.

Eighteen years of silence ended in an emotional reunion.

Yesterday, 17th July, 2025, in a deeply moving session at the Goal Delivery, the Chief Judge of Rivers State formally discharged Gospel, confirming that no charge had ever existed. Gospel walked out of the prison not as a ghost, but as a man reclaiming his name, his story, his right to live.

Our foundation has not only reunited Gospel with his family but also provided financial support for their journey back home and for his resettlement. We are now working to ensure he receives the urgent medical and psychological care he needs to heal and rebuild.

This is more than a story of freedom—it’s a story of restoration, of what happens when we refuse to look away. When compassion triumphs over bureaucracy. When forgotten people are seen again.

To every member of Haven360, to every volunteer, donor, and partner—thank you You have helped change the course of one man’s life. Gospel’s journey reminds us why we do what we do: because no human being should ever be invisible.

Welcome home, Gospel.

Your name will never be forgotten again.

From The Haven360 Foundation. .

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