Court sentences police officer who killed Bolanle Raheem to death by hanging

A high court sitting in Lagos has sentenced Drambi Vandi, the officer involved in the killing of Bolanle Raheem, a lawyer, to death by hanging. 

Ibironke Harrison, the trial judge, in her ruling on Monday, convicted Vandi of a one-count charge of murder.

“The court finds the defendant guilty on one count of murder. You will be hanged by the neck till you are dead,” the judge ruled.

On December 25, 2022, Raheem who was pregnant at the time, was shot dead in an incident involving Vandi and other police officers at the Ajah underbridge, Lagos.

Vandi was said to have pulled the trigger, with the bullet piercing the chest of the deceased.

The lawyer was declared dead at the third hospital she was taken to after the shooting incident.

The incident elicited widespread outrage, with many Nigerians calling for investigation into the activities of police officers attached to the Ajiwe police station, Ajah.

Subsequently, the Lagos state government arraigned Vandi on a one-count charge of murder. The officer pleaded not guilty.

THE VERDICT

In her ruling, the judge dismissed the defendant’s claim that the loud gunshot heard during the incident was that of a firecracker.

Harrison held that a firecracker could not have killed the deceased, saying that only the defendant could have shot the deceased to death.

The judge accepted the testimony of the deceased’s sister that the officer threatened to shoot her after he had shot at the deceased.

The judge ruled that the defendant did not provide cogent evidence to counter the testimony that he fled the scene of the incident with a mini bus and later hid in the police station’s hospital.