Drama As Police Whisk Away Woman Brought To Court For Arraignment

There was a mild drama at the Magistrates’ Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, over the whisking away of a 45-year-old woman, Esther Maduka, who was brought to court to be arraigned for alleged breach of peace and malicious damage.

Maduka, a trader at the popular Swali market, Yenagoa, was arraigned by policemen attached to Azikoro Divisional Police Command on two counts of alleged breach of peace and malicious damage against one Osigwe Jude.

Esther was alleged to have committed the offence on December 28, last year, at shop D8 Swali Market.

She allegedly told one Mr.Osigwe Jude that she would chase him out of the market in no distant time. She was also alleged to have maliciously damaged an Alamco swing door valued at N670,000 property of Osigwe Jude.

Her alleged offence were said to be punishable under Sections 186 and 378 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C14, laws of Bayelsa State, 2006.

While the defendant was brought to the Magistrates’ Court and her charge sheet prepared, policemen on the order of a Commanding Officer of the Monitoring Unit of AIG Zone 16, whisked her away to the shock of police prosecutors and court workers on duty.

It was also learnt that when the Presiding Magistrate entered the court and was briefed, he became furious and ordered that the defendant be brought back to court to face the charges.

Sources close to the matter claimed that a top police officer in the Monitoring Unit of AIG Zone 16 allegedly threatened to deal with a female lawyer, Judith Otobo and the complainant, Osigwe Jude, for filing the case against the defendant despite his instruction that the case be withdrawn from the Azikoro Division and brought to the AIG office.

The complainant, who is also the Chairman of the Igbo Traders at the Swali Market, claimed that since the incident and the alleged police threat, he had abandoned his residence.

“I am afraid for my life and that of my brothers. Since the onslaught against me by this woman, I have been detained three times unlawfully by the police,” he alleged.

Speaking on the development, the spokesperson for Zone 16 AIG command, CSP Ikwo Kevin, said she had not been briefed and that the police authorities would look into the matter.