Expectant mum suffers womb rupture in Lagos police cell

An expectant mother, Mrs Tosin Taiwo, is battling to save her unborn baby after allegedly suffering a womb rupture following her collapse in police custody on Tuesday.

Mrs Taiwo who claimed to have bled for two days in police cell, said she was rushed to Randle General Hospital in Surulere, where it took doctors two hours to revive her.

She said she spent four days in detention at Surulere Police Station and was denied bail by the Investigating Police Officer (IPO). Mrs Louisa Njoku, who claimed to be acting on “orders from above”.

Mrs Taiwo, who is in hospital at Agbado Ijaiye, a Lagos suburb, said she was arrested last Saturday at Meiran Market over the N4.2million she is owing Ajibola Abudu, a businessman.

The woman, who is eight-weeks pregnant, said her scan result shows there is a rupture in her womb. She toldThe Nation yesterday that she suffered breath seizure in detention.

Mrs Taiwo said:

 “I was locked up for four days without bail. I bled on Saturday and Sunday, I also told the policemen that I was not feeling well but nothing was done. I was taken to Randle General Hospital but I left there on Tuesday evening. I am now at a family hospital in my area where I have done scan and they said there is a rupture somewhere in my womb.

“It must have been caused by my inability to breathe while inside the cell. I could not cope there, I suffered breath seizure. The toilet was dirty and the stench in the cell was unbearable. It was choking. There was even no water to bath or anything. The experience was horrible.”

She said she borrowed money from the complainant to do business last May but was duped, adding that he rebuffed all her entreaties for a payment plan.Abudu, she claimed, insisted that she should pay the money once.

Her husband Olusola Taiwo said the IPO disobeyed the order of Area C Commander Tajudeen Bakare, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), to release her.

He said: 

“She refused to release and did not charge her to court. I told the IPO that my wife was not feeling well but she refused to listen.

“The IPO said she will not grant her bail due to instruction from above. I believe the complainant gave the instruction. That is why he brought the case to Surulere Police Station where he knows officers.

“One of the officers, who arrested her at Meiran, boasted that she would rot in jail.

“He brought police to arrest her on Saturday and detained her at Surulere Police Station. All efforts to secure her bail proved abortive as the IPO told us there was instruction from above not to grant her bail.”

Taiwo said after he failed to secure his wife’s bail on Sunday and Monday, he went to see Bakare, who called the parties and pleaded with Abudu to accept the payment plan.

“But the complainant refused insisting on complete payment, otherwise, my wife should be charged to court. When the Area Commander saw that he was not cooperating, he ordered the IPO to release my wife since the case was a civil matter, but his directive was not followed by the IPO who restated there was an ‘order from above’ to detain her.

“Because of our insistence, the IPO said she would be charged to court on Tuesday morning. We went to the station early in the morning and waited for that to happen. It was in the course of waiting that my wife fainted.

“We rushed her to Randle General Hospital with the IPO in the vehicle and it took about two hours before she was revived. I was called to come to the station and sign for her bail while she was still at the hospital,” he said.