Woman loses pregnancy to alleged police brutality

http://www.gatewaymail.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/The-brutalized-woman-on-hospital-bed..jpg

 

NIGERIA: A 37-year-old woman, Risikat Bamidele, has lost nine-week-old pregnancy following alleged torture in the hands of policemen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Bamidele, who was on hospital bed at the State Hospital, Ijaiye following the brutality, explained that she allegedly angered the Divisional of Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Kemta Police Station for making telephone calls at the station.
The victim told GatewayMail that she was at the police station to secure the release of her detained husband, Tunde, on Saturday and in the bid to perfect his release made telephone calls to her husband’s younger brother.

The call, according to her, was said to have angered the police boss, who ordered the seizure of the cellphone, but she resisted, the act which further annoyed the DPO, who allegedly ordered his men to deal with her.

And in the struggle with the woman by the policeman on duty she began bleeding from her private part, but a palliative spirited effort was made to provide her sanitary pad for the night.  She was released the following day.

Sources said that a twist emerged on the third day, shortly after Bamidele arrived her school, Catholic Comprehensive High School, Onikolobo, Abeokuta.

She was said to be signing the attendance register when she suddenly collapsed following another round of bleeding and she was rushed to the hospital.
‪Speaking with journalists on Tuesday on her hospital bed, she alleged that the policeman slapped her several times and pushed her violently behind the counter.
‪“When I got to the police station, my husband gave me his phone that I should call his brother,” Bamidele said.  “While I was calling his brother, I saw one policeman. I did not know he was the DPO.  He told me that I was stupid for making calls in the police environment around after eight o’clock.”
“He later called a policeman to arrest me.  I was harassed, pushed and brutalized. My husband saw what they were doing to me and he was telling them that I was pregnant and was begging them not to touch me,” she said.
‪“But the DPO turned deaf ears, he was shouting that they will take me to Eleweran (police command headquarters) the following day.  I asked him what my offence was because I did not know what I had done wrong,” she further explained.

She added: “I was begging them to release me because my husband is in their custody and there’s nobody at home to take care of my children.  They collected my phone.  I could not call anybody.  It was my neighbor that took care of my children.
“In the mid-night, I was having stomach pain.  I called the policeman at the counter that I was having pains in my stomach, but he said there’s nothing he could do.  After some hours, I discovered I was bleeding.   I tried explaining things to the policeman on duty, but he did not listen.”

The injured woman further said: “My husband later gave me money to get sanitary pad. The next morning, I was released by the policeman. They told me that he did not have right to detain me but because I did not give the DPO the phone that was why I was detained.
“They said I have learnt a lesson that when an elderly man is talking to me, I should answer immediately.  I was planning to go to the hospital the following day so that I can get drugs, but I went to my office to sign before going to the hospital.

“It was there that I collapsed in the office and was rushed to the hospital. The doctor confirmed that I had lost my nine weeks old pregnancy.”
Sources told GatewayMail that policemen attached to the police station had arrested the woman’s husband and three others, including two suppliers and a contractor, at Iyana Mortuary area of Abeokuta over some differences regarding a contract work.
However, when contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the police command was not aware of the incident, but promised that the state Police Commissioner, Abdulmajid Ali, would be interested if the woman should notify the command.
Adejobi said: “We are not aware of the matter. No one has informed us about the incident, except you newsmen. If it is true, the Commissioner of Police will be interested in the matter. We will check on the affected woman if the command is informed.”
“The family should inform the police about the issue and we will take it up from there,” he further stressed.