Court awards N500,000 against police ...restrains senator from evicting invalid

A high court sitting in Isiokolo, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, on Tuesday ordered the Nigeria Police to pay a commercial motorcycle rider, Mr. Iroroevun Isiakpere, the sum of N500,000 for subjecting the victim to torture.
Similarly, a separate court sitting in Sapele on Thursday restrained Senator Adeghor Eferakeya, who represented Delta Central between 2007 and 2011, from evicting an invalid, Mr. Friday Eki, from his one-room apartment at No. 9, Fedison Road, Sapele.
Isiakpere, who won his case against the police, was riding a motorcycle with registration number DT 8801 WX from Kokori to Abraka when some policemen allegedly forced him to stop at a check point opposite the Kokori Police Post.
The court, presided over by Justice A.O. Omamogho, in Suit No: HCI/22/2010 brought before it by a human rights group, the Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence, led by its National Coordinator, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, awarded the N500,000 to the victim, as cost of general damage and another N50,000 for cost of filing the suit.
A constable indentified as Peter Jatto, who was the first respondent among eight others, including the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim and the Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, Mamman Tsafe, joined in the suit, was said to have used the police baton to hit the victim, causing him severe injuries in the face.
In its ruling, the court held that the police officer had violated the victim’s fundamental right to life and dignity of human person as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
The judge described Jatto, who committed the offence, as callous, brutal and lacking police skills and training.
The police prosecutor had claimed that the victim was trying to escape a check and search by the police when he ran into the police baton.
But the presiding judge in his ruling said a trained police officer should rather devise a better method to checkmate the fleeing cyclist, which would have included chasing him on a motorcycle or vehicle, rather than forcefully stopping him and hitting him violently in the face.
The case had been in court since the April 5, 2010.
The judge held that the word “torture” under Sections 33, 34 (1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution could further mean physical brutalisation of a human person, adding that it also embodied a situation of mental torture, causing mental agony or mental worry.
Omamogho said, “I hereby award the sum of N500,000.00 as general damages against the first, fourth, fifth and sixth defendants jointly and severally for the callous act of the first respondent, who is under the control and authority of the fourth and fifth respondents. The applicant is also entitled to N50,000 as the cost of this action.”
In the case of Eki, an invalid, who was on July 27, 2010 forcefully evicted from his one-bedroom apartment by the respondent, allegedly with the aid of his orderlies, the court gave an order of interlocutory injunction restraining Eferakeya from further harassing his tenant.
While ordering the senator, to refrain from further action until the determination of the case, the presiding judge, Justice G.E. Gbemre, in Suit No: S/48/2010/M1, urged the tenant to continue to pay his monthly rent.
By Emmanuel Addeh, Warri                    Courtesy Of: Punch