Pregnant woman loses baby after being brutalized by police..

The pregnant woman who was allegedly attacked by three policemen lost her baby. Sun News reports below

“Take me to my son, I want to see him”, Chika Elekawachi pleaded with family members who were still lost in thought on how to break the news of the death of her baby. Chika is the eight-month pregnant woman who was allegedly brutalized by three policemen attached to the Satellite Police Division in Lagos on Sunday, July 19. The policemen allegedly stripped the woman na.ked after accusing her of resisting arrest.

She was allegedly assaulted before she was dragged to the police station. Her family members later rushed her to Safe Hands Hospital, old Ojo road, Amuwo, Lagos, after she allegedly passed out at the police station.

Her family members got the shock of their lives when the doctor on duty said in the presence of policemen that Chika was hale and hearty. Unfortunately, she started bleeding at about 11pm on Monday when she was rushed into the theatre for surgery. Although the baby boy was delivered on Tuesday alive, and rushed to Outreach Hospital in Festac town, Lagos, which had a functional incubator, the baby died less than 48 hours after.

Her family members have cried out over what they described as an attempt by the police to sweep the matter under the carpet. This is even as the Lagos police command had ordered the immediate arrest and deten¬tion of the suspects soon after the authouri¬ties learnt that the baby had died.

Chika’s version:
Chika told Saturday Sun reporters on her hospital bed before the surgery that about 8pm on Sunday, she left two of her kids at home and was heading to a shop at Agboju, in Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA) to buy some foodstuffs for the house.
“I suddenly noticed a bus coming behind me. The bus obstructed me and one of the occupants came out, pointed a gun at me and shouted that I should park. He threatened to shoot if I didn’t park.
“When I discovered that they were police¬men, I tried to explain to them that I wanted to park my car so that I could enter the shop. The incident happened at Pako bus stop along Ojo road where there were so many tankers and lorries parked indiscriminately.

“I begged the one that was wearing a black T-shirt to allow me to go, as I was pregnant. Then, he called me a prostitute. I was angry and reminded him that I am a mar¬ried woman with two kids. I warned him not to call me a prostitute again. But the police¬man dragged me down from the car, even as passers-by and my friend were begging him to let me go.

“While I was screaming for help, saying, ‘I am not a thief,’ they tore my trousers. I was not putting on any underwear, so they stripped me na.ked. They were dragging me, saying I must enter their vehicle, but I re-fused. They dragged me on the road, but I insisted that I would go with them in my car. In the process, my legs and my stomach were bruised,” she said.
She said she was eventually bundled into the police vehicle and taken to the station, even in her virtually na.ked state.

“On getting to the police station, I pleaded with them to allow me get a cloth from the shop. I was begging them so that I could meet any woman nearby to give me a wrap¬per because I was na.ked. People around were asking me what happened, and I replied that the policemen did that to me, even though I’m not a thief. Because, with the way I was treated, one could mistake me for a thief. I had to bite one of the policemen on the back.

“I then entered one provision store near the station where I met a woman who gave me this gown. My phone was in my vehicle and I told the police officers that they should allow me call my people to inform them that I was at the station, but they refused. They said I must be put in the cell. I was run¬ning around, trying to get a phone, but no one would give me their phone because they thought I was a mad woman. They were just looking at me. I then saw a young girl, and I spoke to her in Igbo, telling her I was not a thief. She was the one that gave me her phone and I called my sister, because her number was the one I could easily recall. I told her what was happening, so she came with her husband that night and met me at the police station. They were asking me what happened, but her husband said we had to find those who assaulted me. So, we went into the police station and met the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO). He told us to explain what happened, but as I was talking, I felt dizzy and passed out,” she said.