Nyordeh Sylvanus, a petitioner at the ongoing public hearing by the Rivers State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality, has appeared before the panel to narrate how his three-day-old daughter was allegedly killed by stray bullets from operatives of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
Sylvanus, a civil servant with the Universal Basic Education, told the panel that the incident happened at his residence in Rumuohalu, near Port Harcourt on August 14, 2014.
He said the SARS operatives shot sporadically in the area with one of the bullets penetrating the roof of his house, killing his three-day old daughter.
Sylvanus demanded justice for his late daughter as well as the re-roofing of his house allegedly also damaged by stray bullets from SARS operatives.
He said, “We woke up in the morning of August 15, 2014 to observe that one of the bullets from SARS operatives, who were shooting from the night of August 14, 2014, penetrated my roof and killed my only daughter, a three-day-old baby.
“I picked the bullet on August 15 morning and went to SARS office, but was stopped at the entrance of the office by operatives who ordered me to turn back or join my dead daughter.”
However, counsel to the Commissioner of Police, Mercy Nweke, during cross-examination, dismissed Sylvester’s claim, arguing that the bullet he presented hadn’t been used and so couldn’t have killed anybody.
She also asked why he didn’t report the case at a police station.
