A Lagos High Court in Igbosere yesterday sentenced Jelili Falana, an “Assistant Vigilante” in the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) office at Agege, Lagos State, to 25 years imprisonment for manslaughter.
Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya convicted Falana of the 2014 killing of a herbal medicine hawker, Afolashade Adedoyin Salami.
The court found that the convict shot Salami and dumped her body in a disused cesspit.
The sentence followed Falana’s second re-arraignment on December 7, 2016, on a one-count amended charge of murder, contrary to Section 221 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The convict was previously arraigned by the Lagos State government on January 11, 2016, and re-arraigned on an amended charge on February 1, 2016.
He pleaded not guilty on the three occasions, following which the trial commenced.
But in her judgment, Justice Ogunsanya held that the facts of the case were more consistent with manslaughter than murder.
The sentence, which was without an option of a fine, takes effect from 2016.
According to prosecution counsel Adebayo Haroun and Adeyemi Bamgbose, the accused committed the offence on or about June 15, 2014 at 10:30 p.m at an OPC Vigilance Office in Agege.
The case was reported to the Railway Police Division in Agege by OPC’s Coordinator or Chairman in the area, Mr Adekunle Adegoke.
In his statement to the police, which was admitted in evidence, Falana said he knew the deceased as a “local nurse” and drug hawker who placed him on malaria medication on the morning of the incident.
The accused said the deceased was on her way home but stopped at the OPC office to check on him at 10 p.m.
As she sat beside him, Falana told the court, he began fondling his single-barrelled gun, which went off and shot her in the head.
He added that the “accidental discharge” killed her.
According to him, he became confused and afraid; so, he dumped her body and the gun in the cesspit. The office and the cesspit were demarcated by the rail track on Old Abeokuta Road in Agege.
A prosecution witness, Inspector Gloria Anumo, testified that during interrogation, Falana stated that he seized the gun from hoodlums and was using it for vigilance work.
The policeman said the accused admitted that he neither had a licence for nor knew how to operate it.