‘Police trying to extort us, obstruct justice’ – family of murdered Delta pepper seller cries out
The mourning family of the late Mrs. Patience Komone, a Warri, Delta State-based pepper seller, who was allegedly butchered by ritual killers at agrarian Umeh community in the state, July 27, last year, has lamented that some corrupt elements within the police force are hell-bent on extorting money from the poor members of the family and obstructing the chances of getting justice for the deceased.
The victim’s sibling, Eunice Komone, speaking with newsmen said that when the prime suspects were nabbed a week after the incident, they thought that justice will be done, but surprisingly, eight months after.
She said, “We are not sure anymore if my late sister will ever get justice. We are no longer informed about the court trial proceedings.”
The family was said to have become suspicious as a result of different recorded audio conversations with the Investigating Police Officer, IPO, at the Delta Command headquarters, Asaba, who tactically used sorts of tricks to make the family part with the money to hire vehicle and convey the suspects to court, and other court processes and same monetary demand made by police officers at the office of Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, Zone 5, Benin City, Edo State.
The IPO speaking with another sibling of the deceased, Ese Komone, said, “We are set to go to court and it is because Eunice is not available that we have not been able to do so. I (IPO) do not have money to charter a vehicle, we are coming from Asaba to Oleh court. Then from court, we are carrying them to prison again tomorrow.”
“So I needed cash urgently to run all those things, to register charge and the rest of them. From the day you reached here (Asaba) till today, have you come again? We are talking about how we can get to court now. I expected you to ask how we are going to raise some money now to enable us go to court. You are asking if they have arrested so and so person.”
In a deeper conversation with Eunice when she communicated her financial difficulty to raise the money, the IPO had retorted: “So how do we take the boys to Oleh now? So we (police) will fly from here to court? And same people (victim’s family) who cannot raise one kobo now to carry these two boys who killed your sister to court, are asking us why we have not gone to Ohoro from Asaba to arrest more suspects.
“Is it fair? Are you people not checking it? That we should look for money somewhere to charter a vehicle to go to Oleh court. I have never heard this type of thing before, telling me you are not able to get a place to raise money for us to charter a vehicle. Okay, no problem, thank you.” Ever since this moment, the IPO had stopped giving the family members reports on the case,” he added.
Ari Muhammed Ali, the Commissioner of Police, Delta Command, while parading Onoriode Simon Akpoavirhi, last year at Asaba, had revealed that the prime suspect (fondly called Onos) connived with one Akpoghene Shoemaker ‘m’, to kill Patience. However, the said shoemaker, now also in custody with Onos, was later apprehended.
But, the victim’s relative, onw of the days they were dragged to appear in an Oleh court, affirmed that Onos absolved Shoemaker of connivance in the killing of Patience, saying, “Our IPO dey delay. The man wey send us to kill that woman so, I know where he dey. Dem no wan make we go there. This man na Lucky. This woman (Patience) na me dey carry her since last year for this pepper business. Na me and Lucky kill her. Dis boy (Shoemaker) no dey. Na vigilante call him name.”
Ese, victim’s elder brother also said, “I will not be surprised if Onos says the Umeh Vigilante Head knows what transpired. Even when residents were saying they last saw Patience on bike being driven by the prime suspect, who regularly carries her whenever she goes to Umeh, the vigilante head warned us to leave and stop coming during our search for her. He said our sister was not missing in Umeh and we were giving the community bad name.
He threatened to attack us before Onos was caught in the village.
The victim’s family then accepted when a community-based organisation, propagating Urhobo and Isoko unity, led by a former lawmaker, volunteered to move the matter to the Benin Zonal Command in order to fast track justice, albeit pro-bono.
Ese narrated: “Based on a petition we were not shown, but they said to have written, this group called through the former lawmaker, a lawyer, one day, around October, to say myself and two other family members needed to travel to Benin to start pursuing our case from Zone 5. They said because of the uncooperative manner of those in-charge at Asaba, they were petitioning Zone 5 to take the case over and arrest the suspect at large.
“At Benin, we were asked to give N150,000 for them to handle our case. The family raised N50,000 and the peace organisation was to make up the balance. That was how the Benin move ended, again, on another note of disappointment. When we called to know what was happening again, they (police) said they were not disposed of because those assigned to the case had been drafted to Anambra on election duty. That was the end of the story.”
The Informant247 – Naija News Today
