A 68-year-old man, Sunday Joel, from Akwa Ibom State, has demanded N100m from the police for the killing of his 30-year old son, Nsikak Joel.
Sunday said Nsikak allegedly died in the custody of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Rivers State.
He told the Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry sitting in Port Harcourt on Thursday that his son, who was a crane operator, died due to torture a few hours after the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Nkpolu Police Division, Port Harcourt, handed him over to operatives of SARS.
He urged the panel chaired by Justice Chukwunenye Uriri (retd.), to prevail on the police to release the corpse of his son for proper burial.
Sunday said, “On July 5, 2017, my son was arrested in a case he knew nothing about. He was taken to Nkpolu Police Station. At the police station, he made his statement and the suspect that was arrested confessed that my son was not party to the crime.
“While the IPO was at the point of granting my son bail, the Commissioner of Police ordered that the matter be transferred to the command headquarters, where the suspects were handed over to SARS.
“My son was handed over to SARS around 6pm but between 12 midnight and 3am on July 6, my son was dead because of torture.
“Justice is what I need first; then they should release the corpse of my son to me for burial. Now that my son is no more, adequate compensation should be paid to me. I want N100m.”
In a related development, a middle-aged man, identified as Chinasa Ukenna, has demanded the sum of N30m as compensation following the death of his elder brother, Cosmos Ukenna, in the custody of disbanded SARS operatives.
