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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Operatives of the Rivers State Police Command at the weekend rescued a woman identified as Maria Kobara, from being lynched after she was wrongly accused of kidnapping a 12-year-old girl at Owo Street, Mile 2, Diobu, Port Harcourt.
Daily Sun gathered that the suspect was accosted by a woman (identity not ascertained) who knows the parents of the girl and questioned Kobara about where she was taking the teenage girl to.
It was further learnt that Kobara told the woman that the mother of the girl had appealed to her to take her daughter to a church programme in Eagle Island in the state capital.
Sources said the woman, who accosted the suspect, was not satisfied with Kobara’s explanation and called the girl’s father on his mobile phone, asking him if he was aware that someone else was taking his daughter somewhere.
The interrogation created a scene and attracted the attention of passers-by, some of whom had seen Kobara as a suspected child trafficker.
One of the sources, Mr Nelson Ogiriya, narrated: “As I was passing, I saw a crowd on Owo Street, so I tried to find out what was happening. I discovered that a woman was taking a 12-year-old girl to church when another woman stopped her and asked who the child was to her.
“The woman explained that the girl’s mother had asked her to take the child to a church on Eagle Island. However, the woman who stopped them called the child’s father, who in turn contacted his wife to confirm whether she had given their daughter to anyone to take to church.”
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According to Ogiriya, the girl’s mother confirmed that she was aware of her daughter being with Kobara, but the mob ignored the mother’s confirmation.
“But, before the confirmation came, some people had already started beating her and accusing her of stealing the child. It was in the course of the assault that the police arrived and took everyone involved to the station,” Ogiriya added.
State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Blessing Agabe Karbolo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed to journalists that operatives attached to the Azikiwe Police Division rescued the woman from the mob.
She said investigations revealed that a relative of the father of the 12-year-old girl raised an alarm, which attracted passers-by and residents to the scene.
“The mob ignored all explanations made by the woman that she knew the child’s mother and that the mother was aware of their movement. The woman was being physically assaulted by the mob, who accused her of attempting to steal the child, when our officers arrived and rescued her.
“At the station, the child’s mother confirmed that the woman was not a child thief as speculated. Rather, she was on her way to clean a branch of their church on Eagle Island when she was intercepted and falsely accused,” the police spokesperson stated.
She urged residents to report suspected incidents to the police rather than resorting to extrajudicial actions.
The PPRO further warned residents against mob action and jungle justice, stressing that such acts would not be tolerated under any guise by the command, adding that perpetrators would face the full weight of the law.
