The pregnant woman who was allegedly attacked by three policemen lost her
baby. Sun News reports below
“Take me to my son, I want to see him”, Chika Elekawachi pleaded with
family members who were still lost in thought on how to break the news of
the death of her baby. Chika is the eight-month pregnant woman who was
allegedly brutalized by three policemen attached to the Satellite Police
Division in Lagos on Sunday, July 19. The policemen allegedly stripped the
woman naked after accusing her of resisting arrest.
She was allegedly assaulted before she was dragged to the police station.
Her family members later rushed her to Safe Hands Hospital, old Ojo road,
Amuwo, Lagos, after she allegedly passed out at the police station.
Her family members got the shock of their lives when the doctor on duty said
in the presence of policemen that Chika was hale and hearty. Unfortunately,
she started bleeding at about 11pm on Monday when she was rushed into
the theatre for surgery. Although the baby boy was delivered on Tuesday
alive, and rushed to Outreach Hospital in Festac town, Lagos, which had a
functional incubator, the baby died less than 48 hours after.
Her family members have cried out over what they described as an attempt
by the police to sweep the matter under the carpet. This is even as the Lagos
police command had ordered the immediate arrest and detention of the
suspects soon after the authouri¬ties learnt that the baby had died.
Chika’s version
Chika told Saturday Sun reporters on her hospital bed before the surgery that
about 8pm on Sunday, she left two of her kids at home and was heading to a
shop at Agboju, in Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA) to buy
some foodstuffs for the house.
“I suddenly noticed a bus coming behind me. The bus obstructed me and
one of the occupants came out, pointed a gun at me and shouted that I
should park. He threatened to shoot if I didn’t park.
“When I discovered that they were police¬men, I tried to explain to them that
I wanted to park my car so that I could enter the shop. The incident
happened at Pako bus stop along Ojo road where there were so many
tankers and lorries parked indiscriminately.
“I begged the one that was wearing a black T-shirt to allow me to go, as I
was pregnant. Then, he called me a prostitute. I was angry and reminded him
that I am a mar¬ried woman with two kids. I warned him not to call me a
prostitute again. But the police¬man dragged me down from the car, even as
passers-by and my friend were begging him to let me go.
“While I was screaming for help, saying, ‘I am not a thief,’ they tore my
trousers. I was not putting on any underwear, so they stripped me naked.
They were dragging me, saying I must enter their vehicle, but I re-fused.
They dragged me on the road, but I insisted that I would go with them in my
car. In the process, my legs and my stomach were bruised,” she said.
She said she was eventually bundled into the police vehicle and taken to the
station, even in her virtually naked state.
“On getting to the police station, I pleaded with them to allow me get a cloth
from the shop. I was begging them so that I could meet any woman nearby
to give me a wrap¬per because I was naked. People around were asking me
what happened, and I replied that the policemen did that to me, even though
I’m not a thief. Because, with the way I was treated, one could mistake me
for a thief. I had to bite one of the policemen on the back.
“I then entered one provision store near the station where I met a woman
who gave me this gown. My phone was in my vehicle and I told the police
officers that they should allow me call my people to inform them that I was
at the station, but they refused. They said I must be put in the cell. I was
running around, trying to get a phone, but no one would give me their phone
because they thought I was a mad woman. They were just looking at me. I
then saw a young girl, and I spoke to her in Igbo, telling her I was not a thief.
She was the one that gave me her phone and I called my sister, because her
number was the one I could easily recall. I told her what was happening, so
she came with her husband that night and met me at the police station. They
were asking me what happened, but her husband said we had to find those
who assaulted me. So, we went into the police station and met the Divisional
Crime Officer (DCO). He told us to explain what happened, but as I was
talking, I felt dizzy and passed out,” she said.
Police insisted she was pretending-Witness
The victim’s sister, Favour Ifebuzor, explained that she rushed down to the
police station as soon as she got the distress call from her sister.
“When my husband and I arrived at the scene, I saw my younger sister
sitting on a pavement, looking weak. So, we took her into the station to find
out what happened. My sister told me that she was feeling weak and dizzy,
but the policemen rudely told her to stand up and explain what happened. As
she tried to explain, the man at the counter was saying, ‘Why don’t you have
respect for an officer in uniform? Why did you slap a policeman?’ My sister
said it was when the policeman forcefully held her cloth and dragged her that
she did that, because it’s lawful for one to defend oneself from danger. So,
as they were forcefully quizzing her, I told the policeman that she was weak
and could slump.
“My sister was also whispering to me that she was feeling weak. So, she fell
on the ground. And she was crying, saying ‘O my baby, my baby.’ Then she
started foaming in the mouth. The policemen there were saying, ‘she is
pretending. Let her stay there, she is not serious.’ They were just watching,
including the DCO. My husband was saying, ‘You people have killed
someone’s wife and mother. Take her. She is your responsibility.’ My
husband was dragging me so that we could go, but I told him to have
patience. I said; let me get some water, because my sister was dying. I went
to one shop and bought a sachet of water, came back and started pouring it
on my sister’s head and body, but she was not responding. Instead, her
tongue was coming out, foaming.
“I was so scared because her stomach protruded and her body was getting
cold. I had to beg one man to help me look for a vehicle. When he got the
vehicle, I told the police¬men to help me put her in the vehicle, but they
were just looking at me. I was confused. The driver of the vehicle and the
man that went to get him were the ones that helped me put her in the car.
The biscuits I bought for my children and my phone, I didn’t even know
where I kept them. It was when they put her in the vehicle that I remembered
that my phone was on the counter at the station, and I went to the counter
and picked my phone.
“I then told the policemen that I was taking her to the hospital, and that if
anything happened to her, I would hold them responsible. The vehicle had
already left. They took her to Safe Hands Hospital, and my husband and I
walked to the hospital. When we got there, the doctor told us she was going
into labour, and that we needed to move her to the General Hospital. I was
confused. Then I called my sister who also came with her husband. But we
heard the policeman who had come there telling the doctor that she was
okay. The policeman told the doctor: ‘She’s okay now. You will write
everything that she is okay, and that nobody beat her.’ So, the doctor
certified her okay, and that she was not in labour again, that he had put
everything in order. But this morning, she went into labour again,” Favour
told our reporters.
Doctor’s goof
At the hospital, the doctor on duty, Okoawo Innocent, who spoke on behalf of
the management, admitted that Chika was rushed into the hospital half
conscious. He said all necessary tests were carried out, noting that the
results showed that the baby was intact. He, however, said that the victim
would be kept under observation.
Saturday Sun gathered that Safe Hands hospital was one of the best in the
area but in an attempt to please the policemen who were battling to prove
that Chika was actually pretending to be in labour, they corroborated their
claim.
The doctor on duty despite the bruises and the fact that Chika was brought
into the hospital unconscious, said that she was perfectly okay. He even
suggested that Chika should be released to her family to go home.
Battle to save Chika and baby’s life
But the doctor’s assertion was proved wrong, as Chika soon after started
bleeding. As a result, the doctor on duty became confused and requested
that another scan be conducted. He was shocked to discover that the
placenta had been detached from the baby and Chika was bleeding heavily
inside. To save her life and that of the baby, she was wheeled into the
theatre where the baby was forced out of her.
The Satellite police station DPO was alerted that the story had changed. It
dawned on him and some senior officers that Chika’s story could be true as
the officers involved in the assault had sworn that they did not raise a finger
against her. The officers involved who were seen going about their normal
duty were immediately arrested and detained.
Realising that it was not business as usual, policemen were mobilized to
ensure that the ever busy Badagry expressway was cleared to ensure free
access to Outreach medical hospital where the premature baby could be put
in an incubator. The little one who was already weak as a result of the delay
died less than 48 hours after.
Chika’s relative told Saturday Sun that at about 4am on Thursday, Chika
called insisting that they should go and check her baby. “I told her that it
was too early but she kept insisting that I must move over to the hospital
that something is wrong. It was then that my phone rang again and it was
the doctor. She told me that the baby had just passed on. It is rather
unfortunate,” she said.
On getting to the hospital, senior officers, including the Satellite DPO, were
seen leaving after sighting the dead baby and consoling the family. He was
said to have been supportive and promised that the suspects would be
prosecuted accordingly. He was said to have pleaded with the family
members that the police would pay the bill incurred by the family.
On the cause of death, Dr Efunbu Dosekun of Outreach Hospital, who spoke
with Satur¬day Sun, explained that the baby had breath¬ing problem which
they battled all through the night to control. “It is rare for a prema¬ture baby
to survive because there must have been a problem that led to the child
being born earlier. When he was rushed in to our hospital, we did all we
could to save his life.
“The best thing is for the family to go for an autopsy to have a clear
understanding of what really happened. Chika’s placenta de¬tached from the
baby and the unborn child was breathing on its own inside his mother’s
womb. We thank God that Chika did not bleed to death before the doctors on
duty discovered that”, she stated.
She advised that proper medical check-up should be done on Chika to
correct the dam¬age that could have been done.
Take me to my son, Chika insists
Back to Safe Hands Hospital where Chika looked well and happy. She told
her sisters that she wanted to be relocated to the hospi¬tal where her baby
was. “Take me to my son. I need to see my son. Police did not succeed in
taking him away from me. I am so happy. I will take him abroad to see his
father”, she stood up pacing around frantically trying to pick her bags.
As at press time, she had, however, been informed of the death of her baby
and trans¬ferred to another hospital for proper medical examination. “She
has not stopped crying. Our major concern at the moment is how to save her
life. We had to transfer her to anoth¬er hospital that is not under the
jurisdiction of Satellite police station. It appears that the doctors are afraid of
the police, that is why they lied. If our sister did not start bleed¬ing from her
virgina, she would have bled to death. We thank God for her life,” one of the
relatives who spoke to Saturday Sun on phone said.
They will be prosecuted if found culpable –Police
Confirming the incident, Lagos State Po¬lice Command spokesman, Kenneth
Nwosu, a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), as¬sured that investigation
was ongoing to as¬certain what actually transpired. He said the suspected
policemen had been arrested and were in detention, adding that they would
be prosecuted according to the law guiding the force.
“The Nigerian police has a procedure which will be followed in ensuring that
the suspects will be disciplined”, he added.

bad
pls your source or idonbeliveit

That is now pure murder and they should be charged for murder and too be given life or death sentence.
Fools they are indeed.