Suspended, Beaten, Forced To Confess’: Patience Jonathan’s Domestic Workers Narrate Police Torture In Court As Trial Resumes After Media Outcry
According to the source, the presiding judge, apparently rattled by sustained media attention and public pressure, has now fixed August 11 and 12, 2025, for the conclusion of the defence stage.
The long-delayed trial of 15 domestic workers accused of stealing jewellery belonging to former Nigerian First Lady, Patience Jonathan, has finally resumed at the Bayelsa State High Court.
SaharaReporters learned that the court sat on Thursday and resumed cross-examination of four defendants, Golden Vivian, Vincent Olabiyi, Tamunosiki Achese, and Emmanuel Aginwa, who all narrated chilling accounts of how they were brutalised by officers attached to the notorious Operation Puff Adder unit of the Nigeria Police Force.
Yesterday, the prosecutor cross-examined four persons. They all gave consistent testimony about their torture at the hands of Puff Adder operatives,” a source familiar with the case told SaharaReporters
The defendants used the opportunity to narrate how they were suspended, beaten, and forced to sign confessions under duress.”
According to the source, the presiding judge, apparently rattled by sustained media attention and public pressure, has now fixed August 11 and 12, 2025, for the conclusion of the defence stage.
“Despite the August vacation, the judge created room for two dates just to wrap it up quickly,” the source added. “She now knows SaharaReporters and others are watching.”
The latest courtroom activity follows the publication of a detailed report by SaharaReporters earlier this month, which exposed how the trial, which began in 2019, had stalled indefinitely.
