Family Accuses Police Of Murdering Their Son
Category: Crime News
The family of a driver, Ikenna Udu, has accused the police at the State
Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Awkuzu, in the Oyi Local Government
Area of Anambra State, of torturing him to death.
The victim’s
wife, Mary, alongside her in-law, Chioma Aniebonam, and her husband, Sunday,
while lamenting Ikenna’s death, said efforts to retrieve his corpse had proved
abortive.
They further alleged that the police, upon realising
that Ikenna had died, buried him without their knowledge and refused to
disclose the location of his corpse.
Punch Metro gathered that Ikenna, his wife and children, alongside his
brother, Chidubem, parents and some friends, were at home in Abatete, in the
Idemili North Local Government Area of the state, when armed policemen stormed
the premises around 4am sometime in September 2022.
Ikenna’s wife,
who spoke to Punch correspondent on Monday, said the policemen arrested four
persons, including Ikenna and Chidubem, adding that they whisked them away to
an undisclosed location.
The mother of four said, “It took us up
to one week before we were able to know that the policemen came from Awkuzu
SARS (SCID Annex). When I took food there for Ikenna and Chidubem, the
policemen collected it on their behalf.
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“It was on the second attempt that the policemen told me Ikenna and
Chidubem had been remanded in the Onitsha Custodial Centre. So, I visited the
facility to see both of them, but surprisingly, it was only Chidubem I saw.
When I asked after my husband, Chidubem told me he was dead.”
Ikenna’s sister, Chioma, explained that her brothers were arrested
after a neighbour alleged in a petition that the duo, alongside two others,
stormed his house with weapons and robbed him of his property.
Chioma’s husband, Sunday, said when family members visited the man
that wrote the petition against his in-laws, he demanded N1.5m for
settlement.
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Sunday, however, said policemen at the SCID Annex demanded N200,000 to
release his in-laws on bail, adding that they were planning to raise the money
when Ikenna died.
He said, “The house where Ikenna and Chidubem
lives and the building of the man that claimed they robbed him, is separated
by a fence. How will they rob him? I know they can’t do such a thing. Both of
them were arrested last month but Ikenna died in police custody as a result of
torture.
“The police didn’t inform us that Ikenna had died; what
we just heard was that they charged them to court. We also gathered that
another person was used to represent Ikenna in court and they were all
remanded in prison.
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But when Chidubem informed us that his brother died in police custody, we
returned to the SARS office in Awkuzu to demand Ikenna’s corpse, and they
started acting shady.”
In a bid to get justice, Sunday said the
family secured the services of a lawyer, Chike Nonyelu, who petitioned the
SCID Annex in the Oyi Local Government Area of the state regarding the matter.
Sunday said, “The police later told us that Ikenna’s corpse had
been buried. I visited the Awkuzu SARS with a friend who knew Ikenna, to
demand his corpse, but the police refused me entry.
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“My friend was allowed to enter because he knew some of the policemen;
he went in to confirm Ikenna’s corpse, but he said the corpse that was dug out
was that of another person. He said the corpse they dug out had no tongue,
breast, and private parts.
“We complained but the policemen
pursued us out of their office. I want the world to know about this story
because I have never seen that kind of a thing before in my life.”
Nonyelu, when contacted, confirmed that members of the Udu family
instructed him to handle the defence of their sons, Ikenna and Chidubem.
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He said, “I have applied to the Chief Magistrates’ Court, Ogidi, where they
were said to have been arraigned. I am yet to obtain a certified copy of the
record of proceedings of that court. I am hopeful to get them by
Thursday.”
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