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| Mother of the accused teenager |
A
primary two pupil, Chibuike Oramalu, has been detained by the Enugu State
Police Command for alleged murder.
The
command detained the seven-year-old Chibuike over the death of a 12-year-old
boy, Oluebube Boniface, on May 29, 2016.
According
to the suspect’s mother, Mrs. Nwakaego Oramalu, Chibuike has been in detention
since May 30.
Nwakaego,
a single mother of five children, said the incident that led to her son’s
arrest and detention happened at a residence in the Independence Layout area of
Enugu, where she worked as a housekeeper.
She
explained that the owner of the property, Mr. Edwin Oforma, gave her an
accommodation in the house, adding that she lived there with her children.
She
said, “On May 29, while I was away at the Adoration Ministry at Emene in Enugu,
for the Sunday church service, my boss’ son, Chukwunanu Oforma, a National
Youth Service Corps member, asked my son, Chibuike, and Chibuike’s 10-year-old
brother, Ifeanyichukwu, to tidy up a room belonging to his father.
“While
Ifeanyichukwu swept the room, Chibuike laid the bed. Chibuike found a gun near
the bed where he was working, and he took it to Ifeanyichukwu, who asked him to
return it.
“It
was while he was returning the gun that he mistakenly pulled the trigger,
releasing a bullet which struck Oluebube, who was in the next compound, on the
chest. He died on the spot.”
Nwakaego
said Chukwunanu and his father, Edwin, had yet to be seen since the incident
happened.
She
explained that she was called to return home from the church over the incident,
adding that on her return, policemen from the New Haven Police Station, who
removed the corpse, took her and her children into custody.
It was learnt that the matter was subsequently
transferred to the State Criminal and Investigation Department, Police
Headquarters, Enugu, where Nwakaego and her children made statements.
It
was gathered that while the woman and her other children were released two days
later, Chibuike, who was regarded as the principal suspect, was held.
Nwakaego
alleged that the police said until they see her boss, Edwin, who was the owner
of the gun, Chibuike would not be released.
She
added that the police asked her and the father of the deceased to contribute
the sum of N60,000 for autopsy before Oluebube’s corpse would be released for
burial.
In
a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, a human rights lawyer, Mr. Olu
Omotayo, has demanded Chibuike’s release.
Omotayo,
who works with the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, said under
the law, a seven-year-old was not capable of committing a crime.
The
petition, dated July 10, 2016, was also forwarded to the Police Service Commission,
the National Human Rights Commission and the Commissioner of Police, Enugu
State.
In
the petition, Omotayo described Chibuike’s detention as “a brutal attack on the
rights of the child in Nigeria” and “a very dangerous dimension to rights
violations by the Nigeria police.”
It
added, “Nowhere in the world will a seven-year-old boy be detained in police
cell for over a month alongside hardened adult criminals.”
The
lawyer demanded appropriate punishment for police officers involved in
Chibuike’s incarceration.
However,
the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said the boy was
no longer in detention.
“He
is not in detention,” Amaraizu said on the telephone on Sunday.
But
the victim’s family, when contacted insisted that he was still in police
custody.
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