Witness tells Akwa Ibom Panel how SARS operatives shot her brother

A witness, Miss Lucy Thompson, yesterday, told the Akwa Ibom Panel of Inquiry how operatives of the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) killed her brother, Thompson Thompson while returning from work in August 2010.

She stated this during the sitting of the Judicial Panel at the state High Court Complex in Uyo, stressing that the officers shot her brother twice in the chest.

Lucy, a fashion designer from Idua Community in Eket Council of the state, said the late brother was returning home when members of the disbanded SARS accosted him and shot him dead.

Continuing, she said, she was in their sitting room watching a movie when she suddenly heard some noise outside as if people were fighting and she had to go out to see what was happening only to see policemen beating her brother because they wanted to collect his bag, which he refused to give them.

She said when the deceased, who was an iron bender, finally decided to give them the bag, the policemen shot him twice in the chest and they immediately put him in their vehicle and took his body to the station.

Lucy said her brother’s corpse was deposited in one of the mortuaries in Eket and was later buried in 2014 after several letters to Commissioner of Police (CP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) yielded no results.

“A lot of people who came out saw what happened. In fact, when they noticed that more people were coming to the scene, they immediately took my brother’s corpse into their van and drove to the Police Divisional Headquarters in Eket.

“My father and I went to the station and reported the incident. When we got there, we saw my brother’s corpse on the veranda of the station and they did not us to get close to him.

“My father’s lawyer wrote a letter to the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police and Inspector General of Police, but till date, nothing has been done,” she added.

However, the seven-man-panel presided over by Justice Ifiok Ukana adjourned the case to January 21, 2021 for further hearing.