Court orders N4m compensation for businessman tortured by police

The Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo, the state capital, on Monday, ordered the state police command; the Commissioner of Police, Andrew Amiengheme; and a Chief Superintendent of Police, Celestine Umeh, to pay the sum of N4m to a businessman, Clement Etim.

Clement was allegedly arrested, detained and tortured for three days after he allegedly caught CSP Umeh, who was the Divisional Police Officer in the Itu Local Government Area, in his house on Aba Ukpo Estate, Uyo.

In a suit filed in May 2020, Clement stated that Umeh violated his fundamental rights to privacy and family life guaranteed by Section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution by intruding into his house in his absence to be with his wife, Mrs Laurentia Etim, in the night.

A Lagos-based lawyer and counsel for Clement, Inibehe Effiong, filed the lawsuit at the High Court of Akwa Ibom State and prayed the court to enforce the fundamental rights of his client.

Delivering judgement in suit no HU/ FHR.72/2020 on Monday, the presiding judge, Justice Charles Ikpe, established that the police violated the fundamental rights of the applicant to personal liberty by detaining him for three days without justification.

The court also found that Clement was tortured by the police, a violation of his right to the dignity of a human person.

Also, it found Umeh liable of the “violation of the fundamental rights of the applicant to privacy and family life by intruding into the matrimonial home of Mr Etim without his consent.”

The court restrained the police from arresting the applicant except on the order of a court.

The applicant’s counsel, Inibehe Effiong, in an interview with our correspondent in Uyo, said the judgement showed that the court remained the last hope of the oppressed.

He said, “For me, the judgement is okay for my client who has suffered immeasurable damage arising from the despicable action of CSP Celestine Umeh. As I speak to you, my client has been separated from his wife, lost his matrimonial home aided by the police and CSP Umeh.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macdon, said he was not aware of the judgement and could not comment on it.