by crossriverwatch admin
The ongoing orderly room trial of a total of fourteen policemen, (three officers and eleven other ranks), attached to the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, Zone 6 Calabar, who were implicated in the extra – judicial murder of five detainees ended today at the zone 6 headquarters in the Cross River State capital.
The trial which started last week is conducted by an adjudicating officer, CSP Mathew Adu and is the first step towards bringing the murderous cops and their accomplices to book.
CrossRiverWatch gathered that the trial witnessed some drama today as one of the detained policemen who had earlier promised to ‘confess’ was intimidated into reneging by his colleagues in the cell.
Reliable information from a top police source say the judgment which is just left to be typed has also indicted the accused policemen and eleven of the other ranks will be dismissed from the police on Wednesday while the other three will be taken to Abuja for action since they are senior police officers.
After their dismissal, it is expected that they will be arraigned in a civil court.
“The accused policemen tried fruitlessly to create the picture that there was an armed robbery but there is no evidence to support that claim. Even the OC who ordinarily should open up and say the truth was just trying to be a good boss by refusing to say the truth.
“The judgment is just left to be typed by the officer in charge. They will be relieved of their jobs as policemen, they will remain in detention also until they are taken to court for trial.” Our source said.
Inspector Gershom Isotu, Sgt. Tony Idoko, Cpl. Ewa, Edidiong and others, all attached to SARS in Calabar allegedly removed five detainees including one Derek Moses and a taxi driver, from their cell on April 17, 2014 and went on to gruesomely murder them in an unknown location, labeled them armed robbers and gave their bodies to the anatomy department of the University of Calabar.
The AIG Zone 6, Musa Dauda, had earlier set up an investigative panel which concluded its work and wrote a report that indicted the policemen.
The killer cops were initially arrested and later set free after pressure was mounted on the Police by some politicians in the state.
But with renewed interest in the matter following a wave of media reports, the police authorities rearrested the killer cops and got them back to detention and later expanding the drag net to fourteen suspects.
Meanwhile, one of the accused policemen who is the 2nd in Command (2-i-C) SARS, Calabar has told the lawyer representing the mother of one of the deceased, Barrister James Ibor that heads will roll if he does not hands off the matter.
Barrister Ibor in a text message to CrossRiverWatch said the 2-i-C called him from the cell where he is being detained at 9:54pm with telephone number 08033871909, to remind him that he has been warning him to steer clear of this matter but since he has refused to listen, if anything happens to them, “heads will roll.”
Ibor who CrossRiverWatch could not confirm if he is part of the ongoing trial, wondered how a detainee got access to a telephone in a cell and called on the police to ensure the threat is not taken lightly considering that the people involved are being accused of killing others.
follow us on twitter
Leave feedback about this