…Court Fixes Date For Judgement
The counsel for defendants in the suit filed by widow of Dr Ferry Gberegbe has denied his clients had hand in the killing of the young polytechnic lecturer, describing the allegation as bogus.
Addressing the court on Wednesday 12 February, defence counsel, Essien Edet, said second defendant, Akin Fakorede and the first defendant, Commissioner of Police in Rivers State were not responsible for death of Dr Gberegbe.
Dr Gberegbe who was allegedly shot by operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) allegedly on orders of then SARS Commander in Rivers State, Akin Fakorede, died in hospital.
He was shot on 10 March, 2019 at INEC collation centre in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, in the 2019 Governorship Election in the state and was collation agent of the People’s Democratic Party.
Edet said, “We are not responsible for the death of Ferry Gberegbe’,’ stressing the allegation was “bogus” and the prosecution failed in court to prove that the deceased was killed by SARS operatives.
He said the suit against the defendants is an attempt to claim “monetary compensation” when second defendant has not committed any offence.
He said that the then SARS Commander was not shown on the video clip allegedly showing how Dr Gberegbe was shot and said the clip was to “blackmail” and “malign” the defendants and get monetary compensation.
Edet who pleaded with court not to grant reliefs sought by the plaintiff also prayed the court should entirely dismiss the suit.
Speaking in an interview, the defence counsel said: “We have continually argued that we never killed Ferry Gberegbe. The second respondent alleged to have been the mastermind was not even present (in the video). The same video that the whole world is looking at today never showed him. If he was there he would have been captured. He would have been the first person to be captured in that video to show that he was there but he wasn’t”.
Edet who said that the alleged shooting of Dr Gberegbe was not done by the police added the video was “stage-managed” and he expects the court to deliver justice.
“The said video and everything they are depending on is an orchestrated thing. That is why we continue to say it was an orchestrated video…We have done the needful… and we know that we have come to the place of justice. Justice is…for all the parties. They have not been able to prove any of the points”, he said.
But plaintiff’s counsel, Lezina Amegua, while addressing the court said that he would rely on a video clip which allegedly showed how Dr Gberegbe was shot.
A video clip allegedly showing how the deceased was shot was played in courtroom in earlier hearings, and the plaintiff’s counsel said that the clip showed how SARS operatives fired shots on alleged orders of Fakorede, adding that he led them to invade the venue of the collation.
He said Gberegbe was shot by SARS operatives and died in hospital.
Amegua said that his client is seeking justice for her husband’s murder and asked the court to grant all his reliefs.
He said “irreparable” wrong was done against the life of the deceased and said the wrong should be “remedied” according to law.
The prosecution said that the deceased was an eminent individual with various academic qualifications and would even have been appointed Commissioner if he were alive.
He said that the deceased’s widow had been “traumatized” by the death of her husband with four children to grapple with, saying that she should not be “left like that”.
In previous interviews, he had said he believes that Dr Gberegbe was shot by the security operatives.
He said his client filed the fundamental rights suit against the defendants because she believes that they violated her husband’s right to life, saying she was demanding N800million compensation.
The presiding judge of the Port-Harcourt High Court, Honourable Justice Adolphus Enebeli, who listened to address by both counsels, said that he would give judgement on the case on 4 May.
