How A Friend Who Is A Policeman Led Team That Murdered My Son
Innocent Kokorifa, the first child of Mr. Daniel Kokorifa, an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Rivers State Sector Command, was allegedly shot dead by the police anti-kidnapping team on Air Force Road in Yenagoa on August 18, 2016, while running an errand for his mother.
The father of the deceased has demanded justice for his son, saying he was murdered by a team led by his friend.
Narrating further, the victim’s father disclosed that his son died on the day his West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, WAEC, results were released wherein he passed all his papers.
“On August 18, 2016, my wife called me that our son was shot dead by the police. We went to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, but they denied knowledge of the incident.
“We went to the anti-vice unit and they also denied. When we went to the scene of the incident, we discovered that it was the anti-vice team that came for the operation.
“The following morning, I went to the anti-vice team again, but they denied knowledge of it. I saw a friend, who worked there. When I asked him, he also denied any knowledge of it. But I later discovered that it was my friend, who led the team, that killed my son.
“From there, I went to the Emergency Ward at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, in search of my son. There, I was told that the police brought the boy in the night around 11pm, the doctors said the boy was brought dead.
“That was how I knew my son was dead. I went inside the mortuary with my son’s picture and my ID card before they allowed me in. I saw his lifeless body in the morgue,” Punch reports.
“From birth, he never had any criminal record. The day he died was the day his principal called me that he made all his papers. Now, he is dead. All I demand is justice,” he added.
But the state police command had in a statement claimed that the victim died during a gun battle between a three-man robbery gang and the police.
Speaking of the sad incident, mum of the deceased, Mrs. Preye Daniel recalls,
”I sent Innocent to go and give two thousand Naira to my elder sister’s daughter around 11 am Thursday morning. Later in the day, I was informed that Innocent was shot by the police. I called my husband, who was in Port Harcourt and he asked me to go and find out what happened.
”We started searching for him when he didn’t return. We went to hospitals and police stations, but they all denied knowing the whereabouts of my son.
”The following day, when my husband returned from Port Harcourt where he works, we went to the SCIID and they asked me to write a statement that it was bad boys that killed my son, so that they could investigate the matter, but I refused.
The spokesman for the police command in the state, Mr. Asinim Butswat, said the police were investigating the matter.
However, the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Amiengheme Andy, last Friday, sympathized with the family of the deceased and said: “We do not encourage such things. We all have children and nobody will send anyone out to shoot anybody and anyone who does that will pay dearly for it.
“We want to assure the family that nobody will cover up the matter and at the end of the day, justice must be done.”
Photo credit: Punch
This is heartbreaking, justice should be served in the right proportion.
This is sad. Justice must be served oh. May his soul RIP. Amen.
OMG! Police with their extra-judicial killings…Justice should be served
Na wa o. I pray justice is served
justice