Skip to main content

UNIPORT4: Police Deny Torturing Suspect to Obtain

The Rivers Police Command Thursday denied torturing Lawal Segun, a Port Harcourt commercial taxi driver, to extract information from him in October 2012.Twelve people are standing trial for the alleged murder of four students of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), at Aluu, near the university campus, in 2012.A Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Henry Njoku, denied the allegation while he was cross-examined by Mr. Joshua Kehinde, counsel to Segun. Njoku said the first accused person made a confessional statement without torture or any application of force. He said Segun made two statements: one when he was arrested in October 2012, and the second after watching the video clip of the murder in Aluu village. But Segun insisted that the police beat him and threatened to shoot him if he refused to sign the statement. The first accused person, who was led in evidence by his counsel, said the police tortured and inflicted body injuries on him. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Segun told the court under cross-examination by Mr. Rufus Godwins, Rivers State Solicitor-General, that the injuries sustained were on his head and back. The accused, who attempted to remove his shirt to buttress his point but was restrained, said he was given Panadol tablets at the Port Harcourt prison clinic. He said he was not treated by a doctor. Segun said he could not complain about the torture to any police officer because nobody would have listened to him under the condition he found himself. He however contradicted his allegation of torture when he said all the facts contained in his statement were correct."All facts in my statement are correct," Segun said. The solicitor-general said the onus of proof on the allegation of torture rested on the shoulders of the defence in line with the Evidence Act. He said the allegation was the figment of the defence's imagination. According to him, the Lagos State Government has banned "trial-within-trial", because lawyers used frivolous allegations to delay court proceedings. The judge, Justice Ledan Nyordee, warned the lawyers appearing before him to exercise caution and said the court was not a market place or a town hall meeting. He adjourned the case to March 13 and March 27 for continuation.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nyako: Enough is Enough with Boko Haram, Raises Posers

APC prescribes low-key centenary celebrations Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Daji Sani Pained by the degree and frequency of the Boko Haram sect deadly attacks, Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State has declared that it is high time something drastic was done to contain the sect scourge ravaging the North east region. The governor who seemed exasperated by the attack in Michika  on Wednesday, declared that: ''Enough is Enough,'' stressing that the Boko Haram crisis is getting out of hand and needs new strategies  to tackle it. Nyako,who was commenting on the Boko Haram attacks on Madagali and Michika in Adamawa State had  maintained that the state of emergency slammed on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States have proven to be ineffective. He lambasted the federal government for failing to foil Yobe School's attack that seemed predictable since school children had previously been murdered that way in the same state. The governor said: "there is no ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Centenary: Nigerians Urge Leaders to Brace up for Prosperous Nation

President Goodluck Jonathan Igbo group threatens to sue British govt. As the country marks 100 years of its existence, Nigerians have urged the federal government to brace up for future challenges and to work harder to ensure a  prosperous nation. They urged government at all levels and stakeholders to work together in addressing the myriad of problems facing the country. Some Nigerians, who spoke in separate interviews to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, called on the government to address the issues critical in the drive to move the nation forward rather than dwell in the past. "We must sincerely as a people forge stronger bonds as we strive to build a united and prosperous country," Dr Shola Adeyanju, a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) said. Adeyanju, who is of the Department of Mass Communication, said there was need for change in behavior among the citizenry. According to him, rather than waste energy and resources on the centenary, the govern...
Post a Comment
Read more

Court Dissolves Pastor’s 5-year-old Marriage Over Infidelity

An Abeokuta Customary Court on Thursday dissolved a five- year-old marriage between Pastor Samuel Oniyide, 42, and his wife, Kabirat, saying it was obvious they no longer loved each other. The pastor had asked the court to dissolve the marriage, accusing his wife of disrespectfulness and infidelity; claims which the respondent denied. Despite the denial, however, the respondent consented to the dissolution of the marriage, saying she was tired of the union. Dissolving the marriage, the President of the Court, Olalekan Akande said it was obvious that love no longer existed between the couple. He, however, said that the welfare of the two female children of the couple was of importance to the court. Akande granted custody of the children to Kabirat and ordered the pastor to pay N5,000 monthly for the children's upkeep. Earlier, the pastor had told the court that the marriage produced two female children aged five and two. He said that his wife was a trouble maker and was always jealo...
Post a Comment
Read more