“Four policemen, tortured n stripped me naked” - Suspect

Karamat Eleha a suspect accused by Balogun market traders for allegedly stealing an iPad, has denied allegation and also pointed finger of accusation at four policemen who stripped her naked, tortured and assaulted her.
The Punch reports that the accused police officers belong to the special anti-robbery squad of Lagos state command.

While searching for the iPad, the policemen reportedly stormed a two-storied building in Idumagbo, Lagos Island, where Eleha lives with her mother. When the search commenced the woman was not at the apartment; however, after a while she arrived home.

“Around 10.20pm on May 14, I just returned home from a fellowship when the policemen asked me about a missing iPad and I told them I knew nothing about it. They checked my bag, but nothing was found there,” Eleha said.

According to Karamat, the policemen insisted that they were getting signals from a tracker, adding that the device was within the compound. 

It was gathered that the cops intended to check an office in the same compound where Eleha’s house is located; however, they could not gain entry because the door was locked. Eleha said that she went to collect the keys to the office from a pastor who owns the office.

“On getting back, they said their tracker showed that the iPad was around the streets I passed through to the pastor’s house,” she said. 

The officials reportedly took the 29-year-old woman to the command headquarters, where she was stripped naked and tortured. 

“They took me to a room which they called ‘theatre’. They stripped me naked and tortured me for hours. When the pain became unbearable, it occurred to me that I saw a neighbour, Mr. Goriola (Baba Ibeji), giving an iPad to his wife while I was going out in the morning on the fateful day. I told them and they went to arrest the wife that same night. The following day, Baba Ibeji was arrested. 

“When they realised that I was bleeding, they took me to a nurse, who charged them N3,000. They later gave the nurse N1,000 to treat me,” the woman said.

Two days later Eleha was released after a resident sent a text message to Kayode Aderanti, the commissioner of police. The resident, who pleaded for anonymity, described the action of the police officers as horrible and inhumane. 

Eleha’s mother, Islamiyat, said that Abba Kyari, a former officer in charge of SARS, was shocked when he saw the legs of the victim and ordered to release her immediately. 

“Her legs were fractured. That Saturday, it was an officer called Abba Kyari, who ordered them (the cops) to release her immediately. He shouted when he saw the wounds. From there, we took her to a clinic in our area and she was given injections and drugs. When her condition did not improve, we went to the Lagos Island Health Centre. On June 2, I took her to a ‘bone centre’ but I could only afford the bill for treating her left leg.

“I want her to be treated by the police,” the mother said. 

Meanwhile, Kenneth Nwosu, the police spokesperson, stated that Eleha was only invited to the station for interrogation, stressing that there was no issue of torture.

 

 

Punch