LAGOS, South-West Nigeria – Justice Ibironke Harrison of a Lagos High Court has sentenced a police officer, Darambi Vandi, to death by hanging for shooting a Lagos-based lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem to death last Christmas.
Judge Harrison delivered the verdict on Monday, October 9, finding the police officer guilty of murder. “The court found the defendant guilty on one count of murder. You will be hanged by the neck till you are dead,” Judge Harrison ruled.
It would be recalled that the defendant shot Raheem in the chest on December 25, 2022, at Ajah Roundabout, on Lekki-Express way, Lagos State.
The prosecution team led by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo, called 11 witnesses, including eight police officers.
The other prosecution witnesses include two eyewitnesses and a pathologist.
Vandi, who is attached to the Ajiwe police division in Ajah, was suspended from duty two days after the incident. The state government subsequently filed a one-count charge of murder against him.
The deceased’s husband, sister, police armourer, pathologist, and seven other people testified against Vandi in the trial that started in January of this year. 27 exhibits were also presented by the prosecution.
Vandi, being the sole witness in his own defence, argued that the bullet presented in court, purportedly responsible for Raheem’s death, did not originate from the rifle he carried on the day of the incident.
He also claimed that he had never seen the bullet until it was tendered in court.
Justice Harrison, however, dismissed Vandi’s defence and imposed the death penalty by hanging.