The case involving the alleged rape of a 32-year-old widow in Rivers State by a policeman was on Thursday moved to the State Criminal Investigation Department for investigation.
The suspect, Inspector Peter Iba, reportedly raped the woman on Tuesday night at gunpoint in a guest house, after she was arrested for not wearing a face mask.
The woman was accosted by Iba and other members of a four-man police team at Sakpenwan, Tai Local Government Area, while in transit on a Port Harcourt-bound vehicle from Bori.
Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, on Thursday, ordered investigations into the matter, summoning the four-man police team and the victim.
The case file was transferred to the SCID after both parties stated what transpired during the incident.
Confirming the development, Rivers Command, SP Nnamdi Omoni, said: “The CP ordered the matter investigated.
“She (victim) made her statement yesterday (Wednesday) and today (Thursday) we were at Tai Police Station.
“Unfortunately, the men that had an encounter with the lady are not from Tai Police Station, as she insinuated. They were, rather, from Mobile Police Base 56 at Bori.
“Today (Thursday) all the parties were here. After hearing from them, the matter is being investigated. CP has directed the transfer of case file to SCID for further investigations, at the end of which the report will be made public.
“They (suspects) made a lot of denials and confessions, but the investigations will reveal what happened.
“Witnesses will be involved, the scene of the crime visited and other things to follow in the course of investigations.
“The accused officers were with the Rivers Police Command. Definitely they will be invited to the SCID and we will keep the public informed.”
Stating her own side of the story, the widow said, “I was returning from Bori to Port Harcourt, when I met some police officers at a checkpoint.
“They arrested me for not wearing a nose mask.
“They kept me long there with them. Thereafter, they carried me from one place to the other, claiming they want to take me to the police station, but never took me to any police station.
“After some time, they took me to a guest house where one of them raped me till dawn. His name is Inspector Peter Iba of Sakpenwa Police Station.”
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