Lagos Policeman Who Brutalised Lover With Hot Stew Defies Court Order, Absent For 12 Sittings

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According to a report by SaharaReporters, the Nigerian Police Force has refused to present before the court, one of its personnel, Isaac Gbanwuan, who allegedly brutalised his fiancée, Mary Sunday, by pouring hot stew on her.

The victim, Sunday, told SaharaReporters that her efforts to get justice so far had been frustrated due to the failure of the Lagos Satte Police Command to present Gbanwuan before the court.

According to her, a letter dated September 1, 2020, was sent from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, as regards the case but there has been no intervention.

SaharaReporters gathered that the policeman, Gbanwuan, from Benue State, brutalised Sunday, an Akwa Ibom lady, early last year because he had a low sperm count and believed that she was having an affair outside their relationship and had disclosed his condition to her new lovers.

SaharaReporters was told that also, consequent upon the #EndSARS protest, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu listed Gbanwuan's case as one of the cases to be revisited.

However, justice seems far away as the policeman had been absent in all the court sittings from February 18, 2020, to the latest sitting which was on July 27, 2021.

She also stated that she had been under pressure from the family of the policeman — who is now married to someone else — to drop the case and allow peace reign.

She said, “For 12 consecutive court sittings, he refused to appear. The last sitting was yesterday July 27 but the case has now been adjourned to October 6, 2021. Two bench warrants from the judge, yet the police refused to arrest him. A letter from the office of the Attorney General was also ignored.

“These are the legal actions taken so far from court by the ministry but the police still remained adamant. The state wrote a letter to the former Inspector-General of Police but he didn't respond until he left office. The police at the State Criminal Investigation Department said there was no criminal offence; they called it two people fighting and injuring themselves but I didn't fight back. In fact, I ran out of the house seeking refuge at the neighbour’s place.

“During when he attacked me, I escaped into the kitchen. I tried to lock it from inside but couldn't as Gbanwuan was pushing it from outside. He came in, lit the stove with the stew that was on it, he dumped everything on my body. The stove exploded and I was on fire. I ran out of the kitchen in search of water. People downstairs saw me covered in flames and ran to my rescue. They poured water on me and rushed me to the hospital.”

According to her, she was taken to Christiana Hospital, a private hospital in Shomolu.

Mary said she was later transferred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, where she spent six months. She said Gbanwuan never visited her at the hospital nor paid the medical bills.

The distraught lady said she had consequently approached the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team at Alausa to get justice.

“The Nigeria police have jeopardised every effort put in this case but it is finally in court. They should respect the law and bring Gbanwuan out,” she told SaharaReporters.