Godwin AJOM, Calabar
The Cross River state Police Command has revealed that the cost of carrying out post mortem on the bodies of those who were allegedly killed by youths of Ndon Nwong community, Odukpani Local Government Area of the state over allegations of witchcraft is responsible for the delay in investigations.
Five persons were said to have been hacked to death by the youths, out of the 15 persons that were originally taken to the forest to be murdered over allegations of witchcraft.
The Police Anti Cultism and Kidnapping Squad had swung into action making several arrests in the affected community after rescuing three police officers who were held hostage by the angry youths.
However, the police in the state said the cost of bringing in a pathologist has become a stumbling block to the progress of the investigation due to the huge amount involved.
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Those who are still missing include Micheal Roberts, 62, Ikwo Edet Eyo, 65, Chief Etim Ekpenyong, 85, Madam Eyo, 61 and one Mrs Edet aged 63 years, while the corpse of Nkoyo Ekpenyong aged 46 years was also found in the River, thereby increasing the number of victims to six.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Irene Ugbo confirmed that investigation was on-going but there was an urgent need to carry out autopsy on those murdered in cold blood
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According to her, the job required a lot of hands, especially health workers that would dig up the grave , fumigate the location and a pathologist that will carry out the post mortem. She added that the police alone could not bear the cost as the procedure was quite expensive.
“We know that there are organisations who can assist the police in making the process easier and faster; we urgently need an expert (pathologist) to carry out autopsy before we can proceed on the investigation,” she said.
