■ Want Rivers Police Commissioner to intervene, query Elelewon DPO
■ 70-year-old mother of victim hospitalised
From Chris Anucha, Port Harcourt
Lawyers in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital have risen in condemnation of the decision of the Divisional Police Officer in Elelewon to prefer a very weak charge against Mr. Joseph Udoh who is alleged to have killed Paschal Chukwuemeka Nnorom, a banker with Union Bank of Nigeria in Rivers State.
Legal practitioners who spoke with Sunday Sun over the matter were incensed that the police decided to charge Udoh for traffic offence before a magistrate court in Elelewon. In the wake of the incident which claimed the life of Nnorom, Udoh was detained and held at the Elelewon Police Station before he was then arraigned in court on the charge of committing a traffic offence. As Udoh was not charged for murder or manslaughter, the magistrate considered and granted his application for bail and he went home on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. Shortly after he got bail, Udoh granted interview to one of the online publications, where he claimed that Paschal was an Ogboni member and armed robber, an allegation that Paschal’s family immediately debunked.
In reaction to the decision of the police in Elelewon to prefer the weaker charge against Udoh, Barrister Joseph Fombo condemned the police for charging the suspect for traffic offence only.
He said the least the police could have done was to charge him for both alleged traffic offence and murder. He said that murder was the natural consequence of the intention of the suspect, therefore, police should have charged him accordingly.
Udoh was alleged to have deliberately dragged Nnorom along the hard surface of the tarred road with his hand trapped by window of Udoh’s car, which he had wound up before driving off, when the victim accosted him for hitting and denting his car.
“The dragging is the natural or original intention, and the outcome of the natural intention is the death of the victim. If he did not have the natural intention to kill, he wouldn’t have driven off while the hand of the victim was still stuck in his car door, thereby, dragging him along the road. His action was pre-mediated,” Fombo submitted.
In his reaction also, another lawyer, Barrister Angus Chukwuka, criticised the police for granting the suspect bail, without first, liaising with the relatives of the deceased.
Chukwuka, who was the former Publicity Secretary of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Port Harcourt Branch said: “Police were not supposed to grant the suspect bail like that, without liaising with the relatives of the deceased. As far as death was involved, police were not supposed to grant him bail. The man was supposed to be charged for manslaughter or murder. The police were wrong for hurriedly granting him bail. It was an improper use of discretion.
“What the family of the victim should do is to write a petition to a higher authority like the Rivers State Commissioner of Police against that Elelewon police station and the Divisional Police Office (DPO), demanding for justice. Once that is done, they (police) will reproduce the suspect,” he posited.
On his part, Barrister Christian Njigwum, a constitutional lawyer also corroborated what Barrister Chukwuka said about the suspect reaching an agreement with the relatives of the deceased before any further action by the police.
“It was wrong for police to grant the suspect bail because death was involved. Police should have first waited for the families of the deceased and suspect to reach settlement over the incident, on how to go about the burial. It could be that the suspect has given police money, that was why he was charged for traffic offence.”
“There is one thing we must also understand, since it was an accident, it was not an intentional act. But very importantly, since death was involved police ought not to grant him bail.
The car that killed the person is supposed to be at the police station. The deceased’s family should write a petition to a higher body, against the police station. In fact, since it was an accident, the matter should have been transferred to the State CID. I believe, the suspect is not denying the crime committed. The relations of the victim should write to the State CID, for transfer of the case,” he said.
When Sunday Sun sent a text message to the Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, to react to the development, his response was: “I am yet to get the investigation report to know what transpired.”
Meanwhile, further findings revealed that Paschal’s 70-year-old mother went into coma upon hearing about the tragic death of her last child, who she loved dearly.
Sunday Sun gathered that since the grieving mother regained consciousness, she has been muttering inaudible words.