- By Anne Agbi and Joshua Uche
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Drambi Vandi is to die by hanging for killing lawyer Omobolanle Raheem last Christmas day in Lagos.
This is the verdict of a High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square.
Justice Ibironke Harrison yesterday found Vandi guilty of a one-count murder charge brought against him by the Lagos State Government.
“I hereby pronounce that you Drambi Vandi shall be hanged by the neck until death. May God have mercy on you,” the judge held.
It was the culmination of a 10-month trial in which the prosecution called 11 witnesses, including a pathologist, eight police officers and two eyewitnesses.
Vandi’s lawyers opened defence on May 16 and closed it on May 31, with the convict the only one to testify.
The policeman, attached to the Ajiwe Police Station in Ajah, Lagos State, shot and killed Raheem, an expectant mother, in the presence of her family on their way from worship.
Justice Harrison held that although none of the eyewitnesses saw the defendant pull the trigger, the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming.
The judge said: “The court finds that the ammunition of the other officers who were on patrol with the defendant remained intact but two of the defendant’s ammunition were missing.”
Justice Harrison dismissed the defendant’s claim that the shortfall in his ammunition was because it was counted in his absence.
“The court finds that the forensic expert and the medical doctor’s evidence confirm the circumstantial evidence that the defendant had the opportunity to shoot the victim and that the victim was shot and died from the gunshot.
“Every eyewitness heard the loud noise and the passers-by shouted in Yoruba language (oti pa eyan) meaning you have killed someone,” the judge said
She held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that it was the convict who shot the gun that killed the deceased.
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“The death of the deceased was instantaneous. There is no other explanation. It was the gunshot that shattered the side glass and pierced the victim’s chest.
“It was the defendant who had an Ak-47 riffle whose ammunition was missing after the armourer counted it,” she held.
Justice Harrison noted the shooting was not an accidental discharge, which would have earned the convict a lesser sentence of manslaughter.
“Therefore, the defendant is found guilty of the one count charge and sentenced to death by hanging he should be hung until he dies,” she held.
Vandi, during his defence, told the court that he never came across the bullet that was exhibited in court as the alleged murder weapon.
He said the bullet was not the same ammunition in his rifle on the day of the incident.
Vandi pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of murder, following which the court granted an accelerated hearing.
One of the convict’s colleagues, Inspector of Police Matthew Ameh, testified that they were on stop-and-search duty when the incident occurred.
He said his other colleague, Inspector Fiyegha Ebimine, was ahead; he (Ameh) was in the middle and Vandi, who led the team, was behind.
Ameh, who was the first prosecution witness, said that when Ebimine saw a car coming, he flagged it down but it did not stop.
Ameh said he also flagged the car down as it approached but it did not stop.
As the car approached Vandi, he shot at it.
The witness said: “The next thing I heard was a gunshot. I looked back to see what was happening and I saw that a windscreen was falling.
“The next thing I saw again was a dark woman who jumped down from the vehicle and I heard her saying: ‘Oga you have killed my sister.’”
Ameh, who was led in evidence by the former Attorney General and Commission of Justice, Moyosore Onigbajo (SAN), who led the Director of Public Prosecution Dr Babajide Martins, said the incident occurred at about 1 pm.
He said the deceased was killed in a Toyota car that had no number plate.
Ebimine, in his evidence, said: “One woman was in the passenger seat, and a man was driving. I flagged the vehicle down. It didn’t stop. They passed me. I wondered why. He was not speeding. Ameh also flagged him down but he didn’t stop.
“Shortly after, I heard a gunshot from the back. I asked Ameh, ‘What is going on?”
Ebimine said a crowd gathered and swooped on Vandi, brought him out of a commercial minibus (Korope) where he hid, and put him in the deceased’s car.
The deceased’s husband Gbenga, who testified on January 25, said his wife was gifted the Toyota Venza on December 23 by a property developer she worked with because she met her work target.
He said they went for a church programme in Surulere where they got married 10 years ago, and on their way back home towards Abraham Adesanya Estate, they saw policemen.
“As I made a U-Turn, I saw police officers ahead and the car in front of me slowed down. I overtook the car and there was an officer on my left that said I should park.
“While he was still saying that I should park because he was following me, all of a sudden I heard a sound on my wife’s passenger’s window and the window shattered and I saw blood gushing out of her chest,” Gbenga said.
Lead defence counsel, Adetokunbo Odutola, said Vandi would consider his next move after reviewing the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment.
