NAN – An Umuahia-based businessman, Mr Emmanuel Nwagbogu and his wife, Priscilla, said their 23-year old undergraduate son, Vincent, was gruesomely murdered hence their call for justice.
The couple told newsmen in Umuahia on Sunday, December 20, 2015 that Vincent, who was buried on Saturday at Ohobo-Afara Umuahia, was “brutally shot to death and dumped in a gutter like an animal.’’
Nwagbogu said a police patrol team broke into his family house around 11 p.m. on September 10, 2015 and shot his son to death.
He said police acted on information by one Pastor Kings Martin of Pentecostal Church on Aba Road, Umuahia, alleging that a suspected robber, who attacked his church sometime, lived in his compound.
He said the deceased had gone to bed when the policemen came.
“When they broke the door, the deceased, fearing that the house was invaded by robbers, jumped out of his room and ran into the toilet.
“One of the policemen pursued and shot him there and dragged his corpse into the gutter’’, he said.
Nwagbogu said the policemen came from Ehimiri Divisional Police Station, Umuahia, adding that they had been arrested.
“I want the Inspector-General of Police and the Abia Government to properly investigate the incident to ensure that my son’s killers are brought to book.
“Whenever police kill robbery suspect, they always carry the corpse but after they killed my son, they dumped him in a gutter like an animal’’, he said.
He described Vincent as well-behaved and the hope of the family, saying that their community knew him as a quiet and responsible boy, who never involved in crime.
The deceased’s mother, who described her son’s death as a big loss to the family, also called for justice, saying that he was murdered in cold blood.
Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Ezekiel Onyeke, said four policemen who were arrested in connection with the killing, were still in police custody.
Onyeke said the policeman who allegedly fired the shot, had been sacked from the police, while investigation continues.
It was learnt that Vincent was a 200 level student.
Reacting to the incident, the pastor admitted that he reported the case of robbery in his church to the police but said that “I didn’t ask them to kill anybody.’’
