The family members of Chinonso Omeh, an indigene of Umuogboagu community, Enugu Ezike, Igbo Eze North Local Government Area (LGA), Enugu state, have cried out for justice over the alleged killing of Mr Chinonso while under police custody at the defunct Awkuzu SARS which has been renamed State CID Annex.
Onyebuchi Omeh, elder brother to Chinonso, who raised the alarm while addressing journalists in Onitsha, Anambra state, explained that his younger brother Chinonso, 30, was arrested on February 4, 2022 over alleged threat to life of one Austin Izunnwanne.
According to Omeh, Chinonso was detained at Ogidi Police Station before his transfer to Awkuzu but police at Awkuzu denied them access to see him in the cell and even initially denied detaining him in their custody.
He explained that after repeated attempts to see him at Awkuzu state CID Annex failed, they wrote a petition to the AIG in charge of Zone 13, Ukpo, Anambra state through a lawyer and the IPO at Ogidi was summoned who gave a graphic account of how, when and whom he handed Chinonso over to at Awkuzu.
Omeh added that when the team from Awkuzu was also summoned to Zone 13 Ukpo, they confessed that Chinonso was in their custody but slumped in their cell and later pronounced dead by a medical doctor.
He noted that when they requested to see his corpse, they were taken to a private mortuary and shown the corpse of a 70-year-old man in place of their brother Chinonso.
He said the last time they had appointment with the police team investigating the matter at Zone 13, Ukpo, they learnt that the two policemen from Awkuzu, the IPO, Michael Nelson and his team leader known as Big Sam who handled their brother’s matter earlier detained over the case have been released without prosecution.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 13 Ukpo, Ms Nkiruka Nwode, said he had not been briefed on the extent of investigation on the matter but would respond once she got the information.
