…Says He Suffers Hard Hearing From Injury
A petitioner has told the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that he wants compensation of twenty million naira for brutality suffered at the hands of policemen.
Mr Lucky Ezu who appeared before the Commission on Wednesday November 25 had told the commission he was hard of hearing because of slap on his right ear by a policeman.
Giving evidence before the panel, he had said that on January 27 2018 he was in his office where he worked as a supervisor in a filling station when he heard a sound and came out, saying he saw policemen when he stepped out of the office.
The petitioner who told the commission that he lives in Ahoada had testified that the policemen had complained about two thousand naira worth of fuel they had bought and said they wanted a refund of one thousand naira or that more fuel be added by attendant.
He said as he suggested they should have contacted the management, the policemen had started beating him with one of them giving him a slap on his ear.
He had told the commission that he was taken to hospital the next day and was x-rayed and treatment administered on him.
He said that he later went to the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) and was then referred to a department where a consultant had said there was a hole in his ear.
He said since then he had been hard of hearing in the right ear.
The petitioner said the men who had attacked him had worn police uniforms and came in a police van.
He told the commission he wants justice and would want to also continue with treatment for his ear saying he should be compensated for brutality by the police with the sum of twenty million naira.
Asked if he had medical report, the petitioner had said he was in possession of medical report from five different medical doctors who attended him.
Meanwhile, there was also the case of a petitioner, Nodi Sylvanus, who had told the commission that there was sporadic shooting on night of August 25 2014 and that a bullet had hit and penetrated his roof and killed his daughter, who was just three days old.
He had said he lives in Rumuaghorlu close to office of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) (now disbanded) and told the commission he had taken the bullet and had gone to SARS office.
He testified that two SARS operatives had ordered him to leave the premises unless he would want to die like his late daughter, who was just three days old.
He said he had been silent over the matter and had only come up with it when the Commission of Inquiry was set up.
Asked for any evidence by the commission, the petitioner had said that he was with the bullet which killed his daughter.
The Chairman of the panel, Honourable Justice C. I. Uriri (retd) admitted the bullet as an exhibit.
The petitioner had said that they had woken to find the baby dead and that he did not take her to hospital to confirm she was dead because he was broke.
He said that justice should be done over the death of his daughter and for his damaged roof saying he needs a new roof.
The petitioner also said that police should stop sporadic shooting in any environment.
Under cross-examination, the petitioner had said he knew it was the police that killed his daughter because they were shooting sporadically in the area on the night of the incident.
The counsel to the police, M. N. Nweke, had said that the bullet was not spent but was refuted by the petitioner and the commission said it would only take security expert to determine whether or not the bullet was spent.
