The
Lagos State Police Command on Tuesday paraded the two dogs that
attacked four-year-old Omonigho Abraham in the Igando area of the state.
The police, while parading the two German shepherd dogs at its
headquarters in Ikeja, added that the dogs had been examined and had
been found to be disease-free.
The Commissioner of Police, Cornelius Aderanti, said it was important to
parade the dogs so that the public would be convinced that the dogs
were still in police custody, and had not been released as was being
rumoured.
He, however, said only a court of law could decide whether the two
dogs-which devoured the scalp of the little boy-would be killed or not.
He said, “We have brought the dogs out so that the public would know
that they are still in police custody. They have been examined and they
show no negative trait. It is only the court that will decide what
happens to them. The police cannot decide to kill the dogs.”
PUNCH Metro had reported on Tuesday, October 21, that the
victim, Omonigho, had asked the police and the government to ensure that
the dogs which almost took his life be killed.
It was reported that Omonigho, who was now in the Burns and Plastic
Wards of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja still had a
bandaged head and some scars on his face.
On Tuesday at the police command, a veterinary police officer, Yahaya
Usman, also told journalists that the medical report showed the dogs had
no infection.
He said, “Initially, we quarantined the dogs and wanted to find out
whether the dogs had any disease or not. That was the first step taken
by the police. The dogs were under our watch for weeks.
“So far, they have not shown any negative trait. The medical history
shows that they don’t have rabies or the Ebola Virus Disease. The dogs
are with us, and only the court will determine what happens to them.”
Meanwhile, the victim’s father, Mr. Odiah Abraham, said apart from the
attack on his son, the dogs had also terrorised other residents.
He said three days prior to his son’s attack, the dogs had chased a neighbour and residents had thereafter warned the dog owner.
He said, “Three days to the incident, a woman who lives in the
neighbourhood had gone downstairs to spread her clothes on the line. She
had left and was approaching her room when the dogs broke out of their
cage and pursued her. She was just lucky that she was close to her room,
if not they would have bitten her.
“She ran in and shut the door against herself. The dogs stood at the
gate for some time and when they saw she did not open, they ran back to
their cage. My wife met the dog’s owner and told him to do something
about the dogs, as there were little children within the neighbourhood,
but he just ignored the warning.”
However, the owner of the dogs, Mr. Stanley Wesley, has been arraigned in court for negligence but has been granted bail.
