An artisan, Lucky Joseph, who was tortured by some operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Rivers State Police Command, says he could no longer stand.
As of the time our correspondent spoke with him on Friday, the 38-year-old said he had taken ill and had been unable to stand since morning, given the severity of the machete cuts inflicted on him by the policemen.
“Since morning, I have not been able to stand up. I have been feeling so much pain all over my body and I have been taking tetanus injection because of the knife (cutlass) they used on me,” he said in a telephone interview.
A video showing three SARS operatives beating up the mechanic had gone viral on the Internet last Thursday. The incident was said to have taken place on a street close to the University of Port Harcourt.
While one slammed him repeatedly with a cutlass, another was seen opening a tear gas canister in his face, while the third official held him.
Also, the victim’s trousers were pulled down, exposing his private parts. The assault went on until two men intervened towards the end of the one minute video.
While the footage of the incident had gone viral, the police insisted that the victim must make a formal complaint on what transpired.
Joseph also told our correspondent on the telephone that though he had lodged a complaint on the incident to the police, he had yet to receive any response.
Meanwhile, a rights group, the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights, has called on the Commander, Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Rivers State, Mr. Akin Fakorede, to fish out the policemen who brutalised and stripped Joseph naked.