New Telegraph

#EndSARS: Panel admits video clip in kidnap suspect’s death

Delta State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality and Extra-Judicial Killings has admitted a video clip where a suspected kidnap kingpin, Anthony Ogbalor aka Dracula, allegedly owned up to his crime but died in police custody. The Chairman of the panel, Justice Christiana Ogisi (rtd), admitted it in evidence and marked it exhibit DW3 in Asaba, during the sitting of the panel. Counsel to the respondent, F.N. Oduna, tendered the video. It was played during examination of his witness, CPS Anietie Eyoh, a serving officer presently at the Nassarawa State Police Command. Under cross-examination, the witness admitted that he was the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Warri, Delta State, when the deceased suspect and his gang members were arrested in December 2017.

He said: “I led the team that arrested the suspect at Otor-Iyede in Isoko area of Delta State after he and his gang members kidnapped a woman in Warri and collected a ransom of N3.2 million. “The suspect fell down from the ceiling while attempting to evade arrest and sustained injuries. He was taken to the station and his statement was immediately obtained during which the confessional video clip was recorded.

“The suspect was subsequently treated before his case was transferred to the command headquarters in Asaba for further investigation. I was later told that the suspect collapsed in police cell in Asaba and was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) where he died as a result of injuries and the fact that he failed to disclose to interrogators that he was diabetic.”

He tendered a medical report, which the counsel to the petitioner, contended and argued that the deceased did not die at FMC, but that his corpse was only transferred to the morgue at FMC. The report stated that the suspect was taken to the Police Clinic after he collapsed in the cell, adding that it was at the police clinic that he died and his corpse was taken to FMC morgue. Justice Ogisi adjourned the matter till March 1, 2021. The complainant, Wilson Ogbalor, had petitioned the panel, alleging that his brother, the late suspect, was tortured and killed by the police after he was arrested without trial.

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