The suspect, who was handed over to the police after his arrest by residents of Ikare Akoko in the Akoko North East Local Council Area of the state, was said to have escaped from hospital on Tuesday when community members approached the police for his whereabouts.
A robbery suspect in Ondo State has escaped from hospital with handcuffs while receiving treatment for injuries he sustained when a mob pounced on him earlier.
The suspect, who was handed over to the police after his arrest by residents of Ikare Akoko in the Akoko North East Local Council Area of the state, was said to have escaped from hospital on Tuesday when community members approached the police for his whereabouts.
Angered by the situation, the residents took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the development.
The protesters shut down business activities for several hours and blocked major roads leading into the community in response to the situation.
The demonstrators accused policemen in the community of aiding and abetting criminals in the area.
They called for the redeployment of the Area Commander in-Charge of the Command, Razak Rauf.
Emmanuel Egunjobi, one of the protesting residents, who spoke to SaharaReporters, decried the sad development.
He said, “For some time, we have been attacked by criminals in this community especially at night.
“So, to address this, we decided to set up a vigilante group to secure our area since the police had failed to protect us.
“On Sunday, we caught one of these hoodlum who had disturbing our community and handed him to the police.
“The police claimed they needed to first take him to the hospital for treatment as a result of the injuries he suffered at the time of his arrest.
“But on Tuesday when we visited the police, we were told that the robber had escaped from the hospital with handcuffs.
“The question is, how did a robber chained and handcuffed to the bed escape from the hospital?
“This is unacceptable and we are giving the Area Commander seven days to produce the fleeing robber or leave this community.”
SaharaReporters could not immediately reach Rauf on Wednesday evening as his mobile number was switched off.
But spokesperson for the Ondo State Police Command, Femi Joseph, said he was not aware of the matter when contacted on the telephone.