Three policemen, including an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), are being detained at the Warri Area Command of the Delta State Police Command over their alleged role in the death of a woman.
It was gathered that the policemen, on July 20, at about 7:30pm, stopped the deceased, Mrs. Ugochukwu Grace Dabo, who was driving home in a Toyota Sienna Space Bus registered as AGL 822 EY, near Igbiki junction, Ovwian/Aladja area of Udu Local Government.
Sources said during interrogation by the patrolling policemen, the deceased was unable to produce the requested tinted glass permit, although other papers were intact, leading to the impounding of the vehicle. They allegedly left the deceased on the spot and drove off.
“At about 9pm, a man brought the body of the deceased to Ovwian Police Station to report the killing of his wife by gunmen, after she was allegedly abandoned on the road by policemen on patrol, who had seized her car from her.
“Immediately the man saw the DPO and narrated the matter, he (DPO) called for the arrest of the officers who had been on patrol in the area because, according to him, they abandoned their duty post, which led to the death of the woman. He has transferred them to the Area Command (Warri). The DPO took the body to the mortuary that night. He was very furious that he had just spent six days at the station and some officers had already shown lack of professionalism,” a source said.
Confirming the development and the steps being taken by the state command, spokesperson Onome Onowakpoyeya, in a statement on Tuesday, said reports so far gathered showed that the deceased was killed by a gang of three at large, adding that Police Commissioner Adeyinka Adeleke had promised to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.
“However, on the same night, at about 2105hrs, the woman’s husband, Mr. Benjamin Dabo, reported to the DPO at the station that his wife was on her way home with her daughter in a commercial tricycle they boarded, when she was attacked, robbed and shot dead by a three-man robbery gang operating in the tricycle. But her 11-year-old daughter survived the attack and escaped unhurt. She narrated how her mother was killed by men of the underworld, who are yet to be arrested.
“The police commissioner regrets the unfortunate incident leading to the death of the deceased and commiserates with her family. He assures the public, particularly the bereaved family, of the commitment of the police to investigate the role played by the officers and men in the incident and ensure the arrest of the fleeing robbers,” the statement said.