FOUR police officers were, yesterday, arraigned before a high court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State for allegedly killing two persons and shooting another in the foot over a failed attempt to extort N50 from a bus driver.
The suspects, ASP Omorogbe, Inspector Emmason Udo, Hadiza Musa and Samirah Ileya of the Abacha Road Police Station, Obia/Akpor locality of Port Harcourt were alleged to have shot the victims sometimes in 2010 while the driver of the commercial bus in which the victims were riding attempted to escape from the policemen who demanded N50 from him at a check point.
They were said to have been arrested on the orders of then Police Commissioner who insisted on their being tried for alleged killings.
In the suit No PHC/858/2010 filed against the suspects, the applicant, Ifeanyi Echemazu, whose mother in-law was shot in the leg said he took the action to pursue justice for his mother-in-law and the two passengers who died during the ordeal.
“The suspects thought nobody was alive to testify against them in this matter, but Mrs. Christiana Aliko who was hit on the leg is here to testify that those who boarded the vehicle were passengers and not robbers as the suspects claimed,” Mr Chidi Ekah, counsel to the applicant told the court.
He added that the driver of the commercial bus whose resistance to the alleged N50 extortion provoked the fatal shooting is also alive to tell the story.
Justice Georgewill of State High Court who presided over the hearing, however, adjourned the matter to April 23, 2013 to allow the applicant and defence counsel time to present more witnesses.
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