The Lagos State High Court on Monday sentenced Drambi Vandi, who fatally shot Bolanle Raheem, a Lagos-based lawyer, to death by hanging.
The High Court Judge Ibironke Harrison found the police officer 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,” the court ruled.
On Christmas Day, December 2022 at the Ajah roundabout in Lagos, Drambi Vandi allegedly killed Mrs Raheem, an expectant mother on a spot said to be a police checkpoint.
The police officer is attached to the Ajiwe police division in the Ajah area of the state. He was suspended two days after the incident.
The state government had preferred one count of murder of the lawyer against the defendant and subsequently arraigned him.
Since the court trial started in January, the deceased’s husband, sister, police armourer, pathologist and seven others have testified against the defendant.
The prosecution tendered 27 exhibits.
Mr Vandi was the only witness who testified in his own defense.
In his testimony before the court, Mr Vandi told the judge that the bullet presented in court, which was said to have killed the deceased, did not come from the rifle he carried on the day of the incident.
He also claimed that he had never seen the bullet until it was tendered in court.
