Akwa Ibom High Court in Uyo has ordered the police command to pay a N4 million compensation for detention and torture of a man who claimed he caught a policeman sleeping with his wife in his house.
Clement Asuquo Etim, a businessman said he caught a policeman identified as Chief Superintendent of Police, Celestine Umeh at night in his matrimonial home at Aba Ukpo Estate in Uyo.
Consequently, Etim was arrested, detained and tortured by the police command for three days.
Etim who was represented by Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong in the lawsuit with Suit No: HU/FHR.72/2020, stated that Umeh who is now the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Itu Division in Akwa Ibom State.
The lawyer argued that the police violated his client’s fundamental right to private and family life guaranteed by Section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution when he intruded into his matrimonial home in his absence at Aba Ukpo Estate in Uyo to be with his wife, Laurentia Asuquo Etim.
In his judgment, Justice Charles Ikpe held that police violated the fundamental right of the Applicant to personal liberty by detaining him for three days without justification and for violating his right to dignity by torturing him.
Justice Ikpe also found Umeh guilty of violating the fundamental right of the Applicant to private and family life by intruding into his matrimonial home without his consent.
