Controversy brews over suspect who died in police custody
- A court sitting in Jos has ordered the Nigeria Police Force to produce a suspect as soon as possible
- The police had claimed that the suspect died in its custody in the Nigerian capital, Abuja
- The judge presiding over the case asked the police to provide the suspect either dead or alive
- The case brings to fore the challenges faced by the police in terms of managing a decent facility
A Federal High Court sitting in Jos, Plateau state on Tuesday, October 29 ordered the Inspector-General of Police, IGP and Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Mr. Abba Kyari, to produce a suspect before it dead or alive.
The order was given by Justice Dorcas Agishi of Federal High Court 1 in her ruling.
Justice Agishi was ruling on two applications filed before her by Mr. D.G. Dashe, counsel to the suspect, Mr. Nanpon Sambo, who is alleged to have died in police custody in Abuja.
Sambo is standing trial over alleged illegal possession of firearms.
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The judge gave the police two weeks within which to produce the suspect or face the wrath of the law, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
Dashe had on Wednesday, September 25 filed the two applications, praying the court to order the police to provide his client.
The application followed an earlier claim by the police, through their counsel, Mr. Joshua Ayanna, that the suspect died in their custody in July 2019.
“This honorable court is of the view that if the defendant is dead as claimed by the police, they should, within two weeks, produce his body at the Jos University Teaching Hospital mortuary for positive identification by a licensed medical practitioner under the supervision of the registrar federal high court Jos.
“Again, if the defendant has already been buried by the police, the police are hereby ordered to exhume the corpse of the defendant and produce it at the Jos University teaching hospital for positive forensic and DNA identification,” the judge said.
Cases of suspects awaiting trial dying in police custody are rampant in the country.
Police facilities across the country are not of acceptable standards making it virtually impossible to be inhabited without complications, especially for people with health challenges.
She warned that failure to comply with the order within the stipulated time of two weeks would attract dire consequences.
Meanwhile, a police inspector identified as Edward, based in Lagos on Saturday, October 26 shot his wife and also took his own life after a disagreement ensued between them.
His wife was a Nigerian Correctional Service officer (NCS) Inspector at Ikoyi station before her death.
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Source: Legit.ng
