Brothers Rion and Jerivorn Woods were reunited with their grandmother yesterday after a High Court judge ruled that their three-month incarceration by a magistrate during a custody dispute was illegal.

Justice Amrika Tiwary-Reddy, presiding at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain ordered that the two boys be immediately released into the care of their grandmother Francelia Woods and a detailed letter be written to the Commissioner of Prisons John Rougier and Tobago Magistrate Joan Gill expressing the court’s ’grave concern of this matter...’.

The teenagers, 16 and 14, had witnessed the July 14, 2005, chopping death of their mother Sandra Miller and had been at the centre of a custody dispute between Woods and their great aunt Majorie Bacchus. Uriah Woods, the teenagers’ father, is before the court charged with Miller’s murder.

The magistrate had remanded the two boys to the Youth Training Centre, at Arouca during a custody dispute.

’There seems to be no explanation as to what committal order was made,’ Tiwary -Reddy noted, adding that the brothers went through a lot in the past.

’It is hard enough for young people to keep on the straight and narrow path...and then these two boys spend three months in YTC...’ she added.

The judge ordered that legal costs be paid by the State and granted Woods full custody of the boys. Attorney Martin George and Paul Isaac represented the two boys.

Following news of their freedom, the teenagers who are originally from Parlatuvier, Tobago, told the Express it felt good to be returning home.

’It (YTC) was rough, we miss out real plenty,’ Jerivorn, a pupil of Mason Hall Secondary, said as he rejoiced his freedom. Jerivorn said he was anxious to ’go home to his grandmother.’

Lending support to the teenagers at the hearing was retired UK businessman Alan Porter, the former employer of the boys’ mother. Miller had worked as Porter’s cleaner and housekeeper since 2001.

Porter was all smiles as he chatted with the teenagers on the steps of Hall of Justice while trying to arrange a flight to Tobago for the boys.

He had been a close friend of the family since 1996 and had assisted the teenagers in their education and sporting activities.

The teenagers continued living at the premises of Porter after their mother was killed. In 2006, Bacchus was granted custody of the boys but a probation officer’s report stated that they were unhappy at the home and Woods made an application, in February, before Gill to get the boys in her custody.

The boys had been remanded into custody until May 29.