Drambi Vandi, the Nigerian policeman accused of fatally shooting a lawyer identified as Bolanle Raheem, was on Monday sentenced to death by hanging. According to Vanguard, the punishment handed out to the suspended police officer came after the Lagos State High Court found him 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 Ibironke Harrison said. Raheem was said to be pregnant when Vandi fatally shot her on Christmas day last year. The incident happened in the West African nation’s city of Lagos, and the victim as well as her husband, sister, and their children were returning from church when they were pulled over by police officers.
In the wake of the fatal shooting, scores of Nigerians called out what occurred and demanded justice for the deceased lawyer. Vandi was also suspended after two days. During the trial, Raheem’s widower, sister, police armorer, pathologist, and seven other individuals took the stand to testify against the convicted officer.
Raheem’s husband told the court that a bullet struck his wife while he was parking after the officers pulled them over, Premium Times reported. “An officer on my left asked me to park. While he was telling me to park. I just heard a large sound from my wife’s side of the car,” the widower told the court in January. “The window of the car was smashed and I saw blood on my wife’s chest.”
Vanguard also reported that the prosecution presented 27 exhibits while Vandi took the stand to plead his case. The convicted policeman testified that the bullet that allegedly struck and killed Raheem was not discharged from the rifle he was in possession of when she was killed. The bullet in question was presented in court.
He also told the court he had never set his eyes on the bullet that was presented by the prosecution.
