The husband of a 42-year-old mother of four, Mrs Grace Dabo, allegedly killed at Ovwian-Aladja in Delta on Saturday has cried out to the Inspector-General of Police to bring her killers to justice.
Mr Benjamin Dabo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone on Tuesday that his wife was allegedly killed at a police check point at Ovwian Aladja.
He claimed that his 10-year-old daughter informed him how policemen at the check point stopped her mother and demanded the vehicle’s particulars of her Sienna 1999 model.
Dabo said that his daughter also informed him that his wife presented other papers of the vehicle but did not produce the factory fitted permit.
The bereaved husband added that the daughter told him that the policemen dragged her mother out of the car, while one of the officers allegedly drove the vehicle away.
He said that the girl added that her mother, while being dragged out, succeeded in removing her bag from the vehicle.
Dabo said that his daughter told him that shortly after, the police patrol van also left the scene known to be notorious for criminal activities.
“Left in the dark, a tricycle with two passengers came to the scene and we boarded.
“On the way, the occupants robbed my mum and shot her before pushing us down. Then I started crying and calling for help,” he quoted his daughter as saying.
He told NAN that his daughter said that another tricycle came and carried her mother to two hospitals where she was rejected as they claimed she was brought in dead.
“She informed me that it was at the second hospital that the tricycle operator requested for my phone number from her and called.
“After the briefing from my daughter, I took the corpse to the Ovwian Police Station, where I saw my wife’s vehicle parked and demanded to know what happened.
“There and then I decided to leave the corpse at the station,’’ Dabo to NAN.
“The killing of my wife at a check point of the police saddled with the responsibility of protecting life is unacceptable,’’ he said.
Dabo, who described his late wife as his pillar, wondered how he would cope with four children as the father and mother.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Delta State Police Command, DSP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said the woman was killed by suspected armed robbers.
She said that the husband told the DPO that his wife was shot dead by suspected robbers while she was going home in a tricycle with her daughter on July 20, at 7.20p.m.
“One Mrs Ughochukwu Grace Dabo was driving home in the company of her daughter, Oghenenyerhovwo, in her Toyota Sienna Space Bus Reg. No. AGL 822 EY.
“She was intercepted by a police patrol team at Igbiki Junction, Ovwian-Aladja.
“When she could not produce the vehicle documents on demand by the police, the vehicle was impounded and taken to the police station for further investigation.
“The woman was left at the scene, having refused to go along with the policemen to the station,” the spokesman said in a statement sent to NAN.
She said that the deceased was robbed and shot dead by a three-man armed robbery gang operating with a tricycle, but her daughter escaped unhurt.
“She was able to narrate how her mother was killed by men of the underworld who are yet to be arrested.
“The commissioner of police regrets the unfortunate incident leading to the death of the deceased and commiserates with her family members,” she said.
Onovwakpoyeya, however, said that the command would investigate the role played by the policemen in the incident.
She gave the assurance that justice would be done.
