7 year old boy in police custody for suspected murder

Firstclass newsliine learnt that a primary two pupil, Chibuike
Oramalu, has been detained by the Enugu State Police Command for
alleged murder.
The command detained the seven-year-old Chibuike over the death of a
12-year-old boy, Oluebube Boniface, on May 29, 2016.
According to the suspect's mother, Mrs. Nwakaego Oramalu, Chibuike has
been in detention since May 30.
Nwakaego, a single mother of five children, said the incident that led
to her son's arrest and detention happened at a residence in the
Independence Layout area of Enugu, where she worked as a housekeeper.
She explained that the owner of the property, Mr. Edwin Oforma, gave
her an accommodation in the house, adding that she lived there with
her children.
She said, "On May 29, while I was away at the Adoration Ministry at
Emene in Enugu, for the Sunday church service, my boss' son,
Chukwunanu Oforma, a National Youth Service Corps member, asked my
son, Chibuike, and Chibuike's 10-year-old brother, Ifeanyichukwu, to
tidy up a room belonging to his father.
"While Ifeanyichukwu swept the room, Chibuike laid the bed. Chibuike
found a gun near the bed where he was working, and he took it to
Ifeanyichukwu, who asked him to return it.
"It was while he was returning the gun that he mistakenly pulled the
trigger, releasing a bullet which struck Oluebube, who was in the next
compound, on the chest. He died on the spot."
Nwakaego said Chukwunanu and his father, Edwin, had yet to be seen
since the incident happened.
She explained that she was called to return home from the church over
the incident, adding that on her return, policemen from the New Haven
Police Station, who removed the corpse, took her and her children into
custody.
Firstclass newsline gathered that the matter was subsequently
transferred to the State Criminal and Investigation Department, Police
Headquarters, Enugu, where Nwakaego and her children made statements.
However, our correspondent was told that while the woman and her other
children were released two days later, Chibuike, who was regarded as
the principal suspect, was held.
Nwakaego alleged that the police said until they see her boss, Edwin,
who was the owner of the gun, Chibuike would not be released.
She added that the police asked her and the father of the deceased to
contribute the sum of N60,000 for autopsy before Oluebube's corpse
would be released for burial.
Meanwhile, in a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, a human
rights lawyer, Mr. Olu Omotayo, has demanded Chibuike's release.
Omotayo, who works with the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement
Network, said under the law, a seven-year-old was not capable of
committing a crime.
The petition, dated July 10, 2016, was also forwarded to the Police
Service Commission, the National Human Rights Commission and the
Commissioner of Police, Enugu State.
In the petition, Omotayo described Chibuike's detention as "a brutal
attack on the rights of the child in Nigeria" and "a very dangerous
dimension to rights violations by the Nigeria police."
It added, "Nowhere in the world will a seven-year-old boy be detained
in police cell for over a month alongside hardened adult criminals."
The lawyer demanded appropriate punishment for police officers
involved in Chibuike's incarceration.
However, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere
Amaraizu, said the boy was no longer in detention.
"He is not in detention," Amaraizu said on the telephone on Sunday.
But the victim's family, when contacted by our correspondent, insisted
that he was still in police custody.