Tennis wonder kid, Angel Mcleod, 14,
has demanded that the trigger-happy policeman, one Corporal Joseph Aminu, who
shot her mother, Beauty Mcleod, dead should be ‘killed immediately’, saying he
has taken away her joy.
Beauty, who was from Anambra State,
and Angel had lodged @ Emperor’s Guest House on Balarabe Musa Crescent,
Victoria Island, Lagos in the afternoon of the fateful day on their arrival
from Accra, Ghana, where the daughter had gone for a tournament.
It was learnt that the 37-year-old
woman was going outside the hotel around 10pm to meet a friend, Betsy Garrett,
who was waiting at the car park, when the security guard challenged her,
claiming that she had been going out repeatedly.
Punch Metro learnt that the guard
called Aminu to intervene in the matter and it degenerated into an altercation
between the policeman and the woman.
“I was told the security guard
complained that my mum kept coming in and out and he got angry and then he
called the policeman. The policeman slapped my mum and she had to retaliate
with a stone. He eventually shot her in the leg and she started losing a lot of
blood.
“I am just trying not to remember it
(mother’s death). Any time I remember it, my spirit goes down. He (Aminu) does
not deserve to be alive. He should be killed immediately. He has taken away my
joy and everything I have in my life,” Angel said.
Her corpse was said to have been
deposited at the Marina General Hospital, Lagos Island for autopsy.
Garrett, who also called for Aminu’s
execution, said her friend might not have died if she was rescued on time. She
lamented that after Aminu had shot Beauty in the leg, he left her to bleed and
writhe in pain for about an hour before he permitted rescuers to take her to St
Nicholas Hospital, where she died.
Speaking with our correspondent on
Saturday, Garrett, recounted the incident and how the corporal frustrated
efforts to save her friend’s life.
She said, “She called me that night
that she was shopping at 1004. I went to pick her there, dropped her at the
hotel and waited for her at the car park. On coming out of her hotel room, the
policeman ran after her. He complained that she was coming in and out and that
she was disturbing them (he and others) from sleeping.
“He ran after her to where I was and
attacked her. I separated them and asked what the problem was but neither of
them told me. He corked the gun and I pleaded with him to drop it. Immediately
he did, he gave her a heavy blow in the face. She ran towards the other
direction, picked a stone and threw it at him. He pulled the gun and shot her
in the leg.
“After she fell, he pointed the gun
at me. I screamed and begged him to leave me. I ran, calling people to come and
see how they could disarm him so that I could take my friend to the hospital.
About four persons came. He pointed the gun at them and everybody ran away. It
was after about 60 minutes that he allowed me to take her inside the car and he
sat with me while I took her to the hospital.
“On our way, he stopped me and got
down. It was shortly after I took her to the hospital that she died. The police
must compensate her family and ensure that the policeman is killed too; he does
not deserve to live.”
The deceased’s brother, Mr.
Callistus Nwankwo, said he was not pleased with the way the matter was being
handled by the police.
He said, “The police are not
handling the case properly. When we went to the Maroko Police Station, where we
learnt that the policeman was attached to, the DPO told us that the policeman
was from the command headquarters in Ikeja. He said the man was not supposed to
have been given a gun.”
Nwankwo added that he was looking up
to the government and well-meaning Nigerians to assist in the upbringing of the
deceased’s daughter.
The Lagos State Police spokesperson,
DSP Joe Offor, said Aminu had been arrested and was being investigated at the
State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba, adding that the outcome of
the investigation would determine whether he would be charged to court or not.
He said, “The suspect was attached
to Mounted Troop, state headquarters. He is now at the SDCI. The case has to be
investigated. We have to be sure of what led to the incident. The outcome of
the investigation will determine whether the man will be charged to court or
not.”
