The Chief Pathologist of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja, Ahmed Abimiku has disclosed that the autopsy conducted on the corpse of Ifeoma Abugu revealed she was sexually assaulted before her death.
Abugu was arrested by the police last September when they could not find her fiancé they were seeking. She died by the following day while still under police custody.
At the sitting of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) panel investigating alleged violations of rights by Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other police units on Wednesday, Abimiku said his findings also put a lie to the claim by the police that she died of cocaine overdose.
“I conducted a urine test to ascertain the truth. It was negative. We also conducted a vaginal swab and discovered that she was sexually assaulted. Her possible cause of death is lack of oxygen,” he said.
Abugu had just completed her national youth service after graduating from the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) Enugu State. She had visited her fiancé in Abuja after their introduction in Enugu four days earlier in preparation for the wedding in December 2020.
Abugu’s fiancé, Afamuefuna Ugwunwa, told the panel that she was arrested and whisked away from his apartment by three SARS operatives at Wumba, Lokogoma Area of Abuja on September 1.
“They claimed that she was on drugs and died as a result of overdose. The police alleged that they met her unconscious. They are lying. She does not take alcohol not to talk of drugs.
The Chairman of the panel, Justice Suleiman Galadima (rtd.) ordered the police to release Abugu’s corpse to her family for proper burial.
The order followed an application by the complainant’s counsel Ifeanyi Mamah for the release of the corpse to the relatives of Ms Abugu.
Galadima adjourned the matter until March 23 for defence.
How sad! Very pretty girl. Those police men will never have joy in their lives again. That thing they used will never respond on demand again. Evil people.