Akwa Ibom State High Court has ordered Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP Celestine Umeh, to pay a sum of N4 million as compensation to a businessman, Clement Asuquo Etim.
It was reported that Mr Etim was arrested, detained and tortured for three days after he caught the policeman in the night in his matrimonial home at Aba Ukpo Estate in Uyo.
In a 46-page court document filed in May 2020, Mr Etim stated that CSP Umeh intruded his matrimonial home to be with his wife, Mrs Laurentia Asuquo Etim while he was absent.
After he caught his wife and the police officer in his matrimonial home, a confrontation happened, after which CSP Umeh had him arrested and tortured.
A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who represented Mr Etim at the High Court of Akwa Ibom State, asked the court to enforce the fundamental rights of his client to dignity of the human person, personal liberty, private and family lives and freedom of movement.
In a judgement delivered on Monday, August 16, 2021, the presiding judge, Justice Charles Ikpe, found that the police violated the fundamental right of the applicant to personal liberty by detaining him for three days without justification and torturing him.
Also, the court found CSP Umeh liable for violation of the fundamental right of the applicant to private and family life by intruding into the matrimonial home of Mr Etim without his consent.
He was billed to pay the applicant a sum of N4 million.
The court restrained the police from arresting the applicant except by the order of a court.
