BY KHADIJAH YAHAYA, Kaduna
A High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square has sentenced a suspended Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Drambi Vandi, to death by hanging for killing a Lagos-based lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, on December 25, 2022 in Lagos State.
Justice Ibironke Harrison passed the judgement after finding Vandi guilty on a one-count murder charge brought against him by the Lagos State Government contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
The judge held that the criminal should be hung by the neck until he dies.
The judge said: “I hereby pronounce that you Drambi Vandi, shall be hanged by the neck until death. May God have mercy on you.”
During the trial, the prosecution called 11 witnesses, which included, a pathologist, eight police officers, some of whom were the defendant’s colleagues, and two eye eyewitnesses.
The defence opened its defence on May 16, 2023, and closed on May 31, 2023. Vandi was the only witness who testified in his own defence.
Vandi, attached to the Ajiwe Police Station in Ajah, Lagos State, shot the pregnant Raheem while she was returning from an outing with her family members on Christmas Day.
While delivering the judgment, Justice Harrison, analysed the evidence of all the eyewitnesses.
She held that none of the eyewitnesses actually saw the defendant pull the trigger but the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming.
The judge said that a defendant could be convicted when the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.
Justice Harrison said: “The question in the mind of the court is did the prosecution proffer any additional evidence?
“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 was missing.”
Harrison said that the defendant had alleged that the shortfall in his ammunition was because it was counted in his absence.
The judge also said that the defence of the defendant that the bullet tendered in court was not his own.
The court, however, held that the defendant constituted himself as a ballistician pathologist without tendering a certificate to that effect.
Harrison therefore dismissed the evidence of the defendant as to the bullet used.
“The court finds that the forensic expert and the medical doctor’s evidence confirms 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.”
Justice Harrison held that the prosecution proved its case beyond every reasonable doubt that there was overwhelming circumstantial evidence that it was the convict who shot the gun that killed the deceased.
She held: “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.”
The judge further held that the defendant did not say that he pointed the gun to force or scare the people in the vehicle to obey the order and park the vehicle.
She said that the defendant did not also say that the shooting was an accidental discharge which would have earned him a smaller 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 had never come across the bullet that was shown in court as the alleged murder weapon.
He said that 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 and the court then granted accelerated hearing on the case.
During trial one of the convict’s colleagues Inspector of Police Matthew Ameh had told the court that they were conducting a stop and search when the incident happened.
He stated that his colleague Inspector Fiyegha Ebimine was in front while he was at the middle and Vandi who was the leader of the team was at the back.
Ameh who was the first prosecution witness said that when Ebimine saw a car coming, he flagged it down but the car didn’t stop and when the car got to where he was standing, he also flagged the car down but the car didn’t stop as well.
He said: ” The next thing I heard was a gunshot and I looked back to see what was happening and I saw that a windscreen was falling down.
“The next thing I saw again was a dark woman who jumped down from the vehicle and I heard her saying that oga you have killed my sister, the woman held him and before I and Ebimine could get to them, they entered the car locked it and left.”
Ameh who was led in evidence in chief by the former Attorney General and Commission of Justice, Moyosore Onigbajo SAN, who led the prosecution team alongside the Director of Public Prosecution, Babajide Martins, told Justice Harrison that on December 25, 2022, he and his other colleagues resumed duty at 6 am, in their office at Ajah.
When asked the time the incident happened, he said that it was around 1pm and that the car the deceased was killed in was a Toyota car that had no number plate.
He 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”.
The witness said: “Shortly after, I heard a gunshot from the back. I asked Ameh, ‘What is going on?”
Ebimine told the court that afterward a crowd gathered and swooped on Vandi, brought him out of a Korope (commercial minibus) where he hid, and put him in the deceased’s car.
On January 25, the deceased’s husband, Gbenga Raheem told the court that the car where the deceased was allegedly killed by Assistant Vandi, was gifted to her.
He said that she received the car on Friday, December 23, 2022, from a property developer when she worked two days before she was shot dead.
Gbenga a property developer stated that the car was a Toyota Venza which was gifted to her because she met her target as she was a very hard-working woman.
He said they normally go to the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Ikoyi. But on that particular Sunday, their church was having a programme at Surulere.
“So we decided to go to The World Assembly Church where we got married 10 years ago, because my wife was very close to the founder of the Church and they brought her up spiritually when she was growing up.
“They had also lost a son, so we went to greet them after service when she finished greeting them, my wife said it would be nice if we can get everyone, Pizza.
“So we went to get Ice Cream and Yoghort and went to Domino’s pizza, near Ajah under the bridge, we are the pizza and ice cream and then we went towards Ajah under the bridge to make a U-turn, to come back towards Abraham Adesanya, because our house was a few buses stood before Abraham Adesanya.
“As I did Uturn 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 who said I should park.
“While he was still saying that I should park because he was following me, all of a sudden I just heard a sound on my wife’s passenger’s window and the window shattered it smashed and I saw blood gushing out of her chest.”
Following the conclusion of both sides’ cases, the state’s Director of Public Prosecution, Babajide Martins, and defence lawyer Jude Egwu notified the court that they were ready to adopt their final written addresses.
The defence counsel informed the court that the defendant’s last written address was filed on June 20, 2023, and that a reply on points of law was made on July 12, 2023, in response to the prosecution’s written address.
The defence counsel relied on all of the paragraphs of the written address in support and accepted them as the defence’s argument, urging the court to maintain the argument and discharge the defendant.
Egwu contended that the prosecution’s case was founded on hearsay and circumstantial evidence and was insufficient to convict the prisoner.
The prosecution told the court that on July 5, 2023, the prosecution’s written address was filed. He pleaded with the court to convict the defendant based on all of the arguments presented.
The prosecution urged the court to dismiss the defence’s final written address and respond to questions of law. He also stated that the defence’s concerns regarding discrepancies are not fatal and will not result in a miscarriage of justice.
“The ballistician’s testimony in court did not exonerate the defendant and never mentioned that the bullet did not come from the defendant’s gun.”
During his testimony in court, the ballista noted that the bullet was so damaged and broken that it was difficult to identify.
PW6 and PW7 testified directly against the defendant, directing the court’s attention to the IPO’s (PW7) testimony, to the effect that the deceased’s sister and husband held on to the defendant after the shooting, and that he was seen taking cover under the hospital’s staircase without his uniform and wearing mufti. PW6 said that following the incident, the defendant requested one round of ammunition.”
The prosecution contended that the defendant’s decision to fire the ammunition was deliberate and intentional in killing the dead.
The State government in a charge, dated December 28, 2022, and marked LD/20598c/22, alleged that Vandi killed Raheem contrary to Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
He was arraigned before the court on January 16, for allegedly shooting to death the 41-year-old pregnant lawyer at the Ajah underbridge Roundabout, on Lekki- Expressway, checkpoint on December 25, 2022.
While speaking with Journalists after the verdict, the Director of Public Prosecution, Babajide Martins, thanked the Lagos state government for providing the enabling environment for seeing the prosecution through.
He also thanked the police for their cooperation and added, “I want to of course, say thank you to my team members for their industry and more especially, the Solicitor General, Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Shitta-Bay, who had also appeared on this case on a number of occasions.”
Abiye Tam-George, Secretary of the Sub-Committee constituted by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), to ensure that Justice is served for Bolanle Raheem’s case while reacting to the judgement said, “Beautifully well delivered Judgement has just taken place. The NBA has been at the forefront, immediately we were informed of the tragedy, we did everything humanly possible to contact the Commissioner of Police, the Attorney General and we did everything. We are most grateful that the Judge did exactly what she has been sworn in to do. She has taken the responsibility to deliver Justice in good time.
“We are calling on the Ministry of Justice to consider the Gafaru’s case, which is also a mandate of this sub-committee, to ensure that Justice is done. It has to be dealt with expeditiously, there has been delay and storytelling in the case and we want that done as well,” She concluded.
Olakitan Bolu Agbaje, the counsel representing Raheem’s family expressed her satisfaction with the verdict stating that though, it could not bring the dead back, the judgement would give the family the hope that the Convict has been brought to book and would get his deserved punishment.
Meanwhile, Adetokunbo Odutola, the lead defence Counsel, said that he would know the next step to take when he receives the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement.
