A petitioner, Mrs. Hannah Olugbodi, a hairstylist who
now walks with the aid of crutches, on Saturday told the Lagos
#EndSARS Panel how she was hit by a stray bullet on June 6,
2018.
On that date, she returned home from work with her husband and
children before collecting money from her husband to buy pepper to
make dinner. As she went to the market she heard gunshots.
“I was hit by a stray bullet and I remember passing out, I woke
up in a car at LUTH,” she said. “I was in so much pain.”
She said after being given four bags of drip, she realised she
couldn’t move her left leg.
She shouted, “My God, why me?”
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Education’, Petitioner Tells Lagos Panel
The doctor told her that saving the leg was 50/50 and that it
could be amputated.
She said four surgeries were recommended.
“The first was to put a metal in the leg, the second was to cut
parts of the bone which the bullet had cut to fragments because it
wouldn’t survive. The 3rd surgery was a skin graft,” she said.
At this point of her testimony, the petitioner showed the court
the extent of her injuries. She said she is still in pain and her
entire life has since changed, all because of a stray bullet.
She also testified that she’s not been able to work, feed her
children or perform basic chores. Her husband has had to sell his
land to pay for her treatments.
She said she spent six months at the Lagos State University
Teaching Hospital, LUTH, and no police official visited. She said
at a point, the hospital threatened to stop treating her after she
ran out of money.
The petitioner presented a lot of hospital bills and documents
in support of her case. She also presented photos of her injuries
detailing every stage of her surgeries.
According to her, she wrote letters to the Lagos State
Government and the Ministry of Justice seeking for assistance and
redress but got no response.
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The panel admitted the letters in evidence as exhibits.
The witness said she requires further plastic surgery so her
legs can be “balanced”.
Under cross-examination by counsel to the police, Joseph
Eboseremen, she admitted that she did not write any letter to the
Commissioner of Police. The counsel also asked if she has any of
the pellets extracted from her leg at LUTH to which she replied,
“the bullet scattered my bone.”
And even though she said she has no ballistic report, she was
emphatic that the gunshots came from a SARS official.
At the prompting of the police counsel, her husband, Oluwaseun
Olugbodi was called to also testify.
He said he heard the gunshots and watched the scene from his
balcony. Neighbors then came to tell him his wife had been
shot.
He recounted how they went round different hospitals, from the
Igbobi Hospital, to the military hospital before they were accepted
at LUTH where he was told that his wife’s leg would be amputated if
he didn’t provide money for her treatment on time. He said he then
ran around family and friends trying to raise money.
On how he knew that it was SARS who shot his wife, the witness
said he was told by some hotel staff that the SARS officials came
to a nearby hotel where a group of boys were watching football.
SARS suspected that these were yahoo boys and when they resisted
arrest, the SARS officials shot into the air.
“It was one of those bullets that hit my wife,” he said.
He added that the DPO later confirmed it was Gbagada SARS.
When the police counsel asked if he has any evidence to show
that there was any shooting on the day in question, he replied in
the negative.
The case was then adjourned to December 8.
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/11/29/woman-tells-panel-how-sars-bullet-shattered-her-leg/