One Miss Lucy Thompson has told the Akwa Ibom Judicial Commission of Inquiry into police brutalities how policemen attached to the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) shot her brother while returning from work.
According to her, her stepbrother, Thompson Thompson was shot to death while returning from work in August 2010.
Lucy, a fashion designer said her brother was shot twice in the chest after he was accosted by members of the disbanded SARS.
She said she was at their parlour watching a movie when she suddenly heard some noise as if people were fighting. She said that she moved out to see what was happening and saw policemen beating her brother who was an ‘iron bender’ because they wanted to collect his bag, which he refused to let go.
She said when her late brother finally let go of the bag to the policemen, he was fired twice in the chest, adding that after the gunshots had attracted people in the neighbourhood to the scene; the policemen immediately put him in the trunk of their vehicles and zoomed off to their station.
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She said the corpse of her late brother which was deposited in one of the mortuaries in Eket was later buried in 2014 after several letters sent to Commissioner of Police in the State and Inspector General of Police yielded no fruit.
“I was in the house watching a movie when this happened and our house is closed to the main road.
“I heard a noise and I rushed out to check what was going on.
“It was there I saw policemen beating up my brother and one of them was shouting that if he did not give them the bag he was going to shoot him (Thompson). He always put some of his tools in his hanging bag.
“But while he was trying to remove the bag and give to them after being maimed and before I could realize, one of them (policemen) shot him twice in the chest and I was there.
“A lot of people, who came out, saw what happened. In fact, when they noticed that more people were coming out to the scene they immediately took my brother’s corpse into the trunk of their car and drove to the Police Divisional Headquarters there in Eket Local Government.
“My father went to the station and reported the incident which I also followed. When I got there I saw my brother’s corpse at the veranda of the station and they did not allow me to get close to him.
“My father, through his Barrister, later wrote a letter to the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police and The Inspector General of Police but till date nothing has been done.”
However, the 7-man-panel presided over by Hon. Justice Ifiok Ukana adjourned the case to January 21, 2021 for further hearing.
