DOUALA POLICE ADULTERY AND GENDARMERIE MURDER SAGA

The inhabitants of the city of Douala, Cameroon's economic capital are still digesting the story in which a senior gendarmerie officer gunned down a police inspector. The incident occured on the night of Thursday November 13 when Gendarmerie Major Joel Emile Bankoui came home and discovered Police Inspector Herve Mapuro Njifon in his home at the gendarmerie Barracks in Mboppi. In the confusion that followed, the inspector was shot several times, and he eventually died of the gun shot wounds.

By Snowsel Ano-Ebie

It is not clear what the police inspector who stays in the neighbourhood of Makepe was doing in the Gendarmerie Camp with the wife of the gendarmerie officer during the unholy hours of that night. Major Bankoui Emile who shot Mapuro Njifon several times, claims the inspector was making love to his wife. The police inspector is dead and gone with his own version of the story.

Madam Bankoui, a police constable at the Douala International Airport where she works alongside Inspector Herve Mapuro Njifon has not helped investigators. Instead she gave two contradictory versions of what transpired in her marital home. In the initial version, Madam Bankoui Danielle Mvoune à Ekoron denied the love nest story but in a later version she declared to police investigators led by Police Commissioner Vincent Minkoa Nga, the Commander of the Littoral Judicial Police that she was involved in an amourous encounter with her slain lover and colleague before her husband stumlbbed on the scene.

The slain inspector's colleagues at the Douala International Airport confirm that he was "very friendly" with Madam Bankoui and that on that fateful day, the victim had bought a large quantity of drinks worth more than one million CFA francs from the Free Shop at the airport, and placed them in the car boot of his colleague and friend Madam Bankoui Danielle Mvoune à Ekoron. They also confirm that he was preparing for his wedding coming up soon. This means that he could have gone to Major Bankoui's home that night to collect the drinks. And to continue his love affair? Or be caught in the crossfire of mistaken identity by a jealous and armed husband?
Whether Police Inspector Herve Mapuro Njifon was murdered in cold blood or he is the victim of his own adulterous acts remains the talk of the town.
Many people are surpried that Major Bankoiu Emile has not been arrested and placed in detention. Instead his boss, the Littoral Gendarmerie Legion Commander, Colonel Emmanuel Meka Meka has given him permission to stay at home and recover from the truma sustained during the incident. His argument of self defence seems to carry the day but many unanswered questions remain.

Why will a single police officer leave his empty house and all the hotels in Douala to commit adultery with a married woman in her husband's house in the gendarmerie camp?
Talking about self defence, the Cameroon Penal Code stipulates that one can use a proportionate amount of force to defend himself, his family and property. However, when a well trained and experienced law enforcement officer like Major Joel Emile Bankoui empties the contents of his service gun into the body of a naked man, can we still talk of proportionate amount of force?
What if a jealous woman framed up her lover who is about to get married, and entices him to her home where her angry husband will find him and act out of control?
And why did the major kill his wife's presumed lover shooting him several times and not hurt his wife who was also in his eyes "guilty"?
And why has the Douala Judicial Police not been given a free hand to investigate the case but entertains constant interference from gendarmerie officers who are reputed for their solidarity towards fellow colleagues?

The victim's family of orientation has in the meantime filed a a civil suit against Major Joel Emile Bankoui for voluntary homicide. This means that the top gendarmerie officer could be judged concurrently by both the military tribunal and civillian courts.
In cases of jungle justice when the perpetuators are identified, they are arrested and tried. Douala is waiting and watching to see whether some citizens are above the law just because they have been authorised to carry guns and wear khaki uniforms.