The Publisher of Bende Analyst Newspaper, Hon. David Kalu, has cried out over the sale of the property of his mother, Comfort Kalu, by persons put in charge of them by his late father, David Kalu.
The member of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers also faulted the inaction of the Enugu State Police Command.
In a letter to the media, Kalu wrote:
Enugu State Police Command should rise to their responsibility in prosecuting a matter reported to the Police Commissioner, through a letter dated 26th May 2018.
The matter was reported and duly investigated, then charged to court, and the prosecution started.
The matter had case file N0 MES/215C, the matter started in 2018 and was later transferred to another magistrate in 2019, during which the PW1 and PW2 gave their evidence.
Since the PW1 and 2 gave their evidence, the matter has been on standstill and what brought the standstill was the inability of the police to bring the Prosecution Witness Three (PW3). Who is the Investigative Police Officer (IPO)?
According to the Police, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), is now retired and that it can’t be able to produce the PW3.
It is believed that the police is a team work, the matter was reported to the Commissioner of Police (CP), it is believed that from the CP the case file went to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), then to the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) before it got to the officer in charge of D4 department that assigned the job to the IPO that invited the compliant, arrested the accused and investigated the matter and wrote report on his findings, submitted it and got approval before the matter was charged to court?
If the police work is a team work as articulated above, should the retirement of the PW3 mean the closing of the case against the accused?
Aside from the Commissioner of Police (CP), the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in the team of the work. The D4 department is a team of investigative officers and in which even the officer in charge of the D4 Mr. Umunna, as of the time the case was reported is still in service. Why can’t he be reached, in order for him to come and give evidence on the matter based on the police investigation report of the case?
The implication of the PW3 not given evidence in the matter, is that it will make the matter to lack merit, therefore the accused will go free.
The story of the prosecution of this case is a sympathetic one, which cannot be all penned down here, this one case that six or more prosecutors have participated in.
Due to the manner, in which from day one of the case we paid for the typing of the charge sheet, buying of file, paid for photocopies and from that day have been bearing the financial burden of prosecuting the case, the family wrote a letter to the Enugu Police CP dated 25th Feb and delivered to the police on 25th Feb 2022 “REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION ON THE FUNDING OF A STATE CASE INITIATED BY YOUR OFFICE.”
The questions raised in the letters are as follows: (1) Who pays for the typing of the Charge Sheet. (2) Who pays for the uploading of the case documents on oath (3) Does the plaintiff pays appearance fee to the prosecutor (4) The police in a matter has three witnesses PW1, PW2, and PW3. The PW3 is the IPO who investigated the matter, for the PW3 to come to court to give evidence in the matter, is it the responsibility of the Plaintiff (Complainant) to pay for the cost of the PW3 coming to court to give evidence in the matter?
Because of the above mentioned letter, the complainant was physically attacked by one of the prosecutors in the court premises by hitting and to the extent of spitting on the face of the complainant over the objection of the complainant, because of many irregularities carried out by the prosecutor.
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After the physical attack by the prosecutor against the complaint, another letter with the heading “REPORT ON PHYSICAL ASSAULT AND THREAT TO MY LIFE BY PROSECUTOR PEACE OPARA OF THE ENUGU POLICE COMMAND was written to the Commissioner of Police Enugu Command again on 25th July 2022 and received by the police on 27th July 2022. Reporting the attack by the prosecutor, the only thing done was the change of prosecutor and the case still stands still.
As the case was on the accused went ahead and sold the said property.
The accused persons have been going about telling people that the police are a toothless bulldog and lack the audacity to prosecute the matter, bragging that the matter has come to an end.
This led to a petition written to the State Commissioner of Police dated 09 May 2022, with heading “RE-OBTAINING PROPERTY BY FALSE PRETENCE AND CRIMINAL CONVERSION OF TITLE DOCUMENTS FOR PERSONAL USE BY MR & MRS SIMEON ANOZIE” and delivered on the 10th May 2022, nothing came out of the letter.
As of the last court date on the matter, the defence counsel wanted the court to grant him a motion on the close of the prosecution case and let the defence open theirs.
The next court date on the matter is April, 14th 2024, and if the Enugu Police Command cannot provide the PW3, the presiding magistrate may have no option than to grant the agreed to l the request of the defence on the prosecution closing its case.
As said on the action of the police, through the prosecution process, this entails that if the Enugu State Police Command can investigate a case reported to it then take the matter to court, at the end cannot prosecute the matter, is this an indication of a big security problem in the state?
GENESIS OF THE MATTER
The late Mr. David Kalu during his lifetime lived and personally acquired a property at N0. 7, St John Crescent, Ugbo Oghe Abakpa Nike Enugu.
Late David Kalu, the Landlord with the consent of his wife, Comfort Kalu brought back Mr. Simeon Anozie who is the son in-law to Mr. David Kalu to Enugu because of the crisis in Northern Nigeria, he gave Mr. Anozie two living rooms and a shop in the same property. The shop was the dry cleaning business and appointed him as his caretaker of the property. The reason of Mr. David Kalu appointing, Mr. Anozie the caretaker was because he Mr. David Kalu wanted to relocated to the village as a result of his position as as the most elderly person in his family and as demand by the culture and tradition of his people, the most elderly person in a family lives in the village.
Furthermore, before leaving Enugu for his hometown, Ozuitem. Late Mr. David Kalu clearly instructed his daughter Mrs. Margaret Anozie (Nee Kalu) and in law Mr. Simeon Anozie to be remitting all money from his house rent from the tenants to him.
Shortly afterward, the duo of the Anozie criminally conspired and stole the title document of the property and this they did by telling Late Mr. David Kalu that the original land owners, the Nike people of Enugu East Local Government Area Enugu State Nigeria were verifying all landed properties sold to individuals.
The Anozies told late Mr. David Kalu that the Nike people are requesting for the original title document of every property.
Late Mr. Kalu, who was already resident in Ozuitem, Bende LGA, gave them the document with an instruction to make a photocopy of the document and return the original to him.
They the Anozie never returned the document, rather absconded with the document and assumed the landlord of the property and later sold the property after the death of Mr. David Kalu.
Immediately after the death of Mr. David Kalu, the Anozie banned late Mr. David Kalu’s wife and other children from the property.
Our family is asking that everyone comes to our rescue as the matriarch of our family who is above 80 years of age is dying gradually due to the trauma in the delay in justice based on the action of the Enugu State Police Command.
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