7 days after, escaped Rivers ritualist still at large
After the arrest for alleged murder, a prime suspect escapes from police custody further complicating the matter. reports.
One week after, the whereabouts of a suspected ritualist, Ifeanyi Dike, who escaped from police custody over the killing of 8-year-old Victory Chimkaso Nmezu, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State still remained a mystery to officers of the state police command.
Ifeanyi Dike, an undergraduate of University of Port Harcourt, allegedly lured the little girl into his apartment at Eliozu where he killed her and severed her vital organs.
He was arrested by the vigilante group in the area as he was about to dispose the dismembered body and handed over to the police. However, less than 48 hours of his arrest the suspect escaped from police custody.
His escape generated angry reactions across the state and the country to the point that the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Zaki Ahmed placed a price tag on anybody that can provide the police with information on the whereabouts of the suspect.
Mr Zaki who confirmed the escape of the suspect to journalists in Port Harcourt blamed the incident on what he described as negligence on part of the police officer who was taking custody of the suspect.
To demonstrate that there was a price to pay for any act of negligence, the police officer that has taken custody of the suspect has been dismissed from the Nigerian police force and under interrogation.
The police officer, Sergeant Johnbosco Okoroeze was on Friday reprimanded in prison custody on a 2-count charge boarding on aiding the escape of the suspect and assisting to pervert justice against a murder suspect.
Before then, relations, sympathizers and residents of Victory at Eliozu on Wednesday staged a peaceful demonstration on the streets of Port Harcourt and demanded an immediate rearrest of the suspect.
The death of the little Victory indeed brought agony and pain to her family. The mother of the deceased Mrs Nmezu was in pains and called on the police to rearrest the suspect to face the wrath of law.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the deceased was the last child of the family and a pupil of a private School where the suspect also teaches.
Mrs Nmezu who spoke to reporters in Port Harcourt recalled her last moment with the deceased. “It was on Friday afternoon. I was with her and her elder sister in the shop. I left to see my customers within this area. I left two of them in the shop. Before I could come back, it was at about 2 pm. I did not see victory.
“I asked her elder sister, she told me that Victory said she wanted to ease herself. My shop is close to the road and there is no where she would pooh. Her sister said she crossed Victory to the house to ease herself,” she said.
She continued that: “I told her that it has taken time, she should go and bring Victory and maybe she has started playing with other children in the compound which I never wanted.”
According to her, the elder sister returned and said that she did not see Victory. “That was how we started looking for the girl. I was wondering how she could go to the house to pooh and nobody could see her again. It was strange to me and she did not come to the shop again. Nobody could even they saw her.
“As we were running helter-skelter, her elder sister first ran to their uncle Ifeanyi [the suspect]. She asked him, if he saw Victory. He answered in the negative. She left but later returned to Ifeanyi who ordered her to leave.
The mother stated that “I entered Ifeanyi’s compound. I shouted her name several times, but, there was no response. Victory does not know any other place than from our house to Ifeanyi’s house because we are somehow related.
“I couldn’t believe what was happening. I became confused and started jumping everywhere. People in the neighborhood were also worried and surprised. They said that Victory was not the type of child that moves out anyhow. My children don’t go to people’s houses to play. I didn’t bring them up like that. It is either they are at home or at the shop.”
It was at that point, according to Mrs Nmezu that a search party was set up to look for the deceased without knowing that her daughter had been killed and her corpse hidden in the suspect’s apartment.
The father of the decease, Dr Ernest Nmezuwuba, accused the police of complicity in escape of the suspect. He said the police should explain how murder suspect escaped in the custody and vowed to fight the battle to an end till the killers of her daughter are brought to justice.
Meantime the residents of Eliozu have lamented the indiscriminate arrest of residents of the area since the little girl was murdered. A resident, Mr Chika Wogu condemned the continued arrest and charged the police to go after the real suspect who he said has escaped from their custody.