An Ikeja High Court in Lagos, on Thursday sentenced a police officer, Ikechukwu Nwabueze, to death by hanging for unlawful shooting and killing of a three year old girl
Nwabueze, who was arraigned on June 15, 2010 by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions, had pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him but after much investigations, Justice Olabisi Akinlade, found the 35-year-old former policeman guilty of murder charge.
Narrating the ugly incident that led to the arrest and prosecution of Nwabueze, Mrs Olabisi Ogungbesan, the Director of Public Prosecution, said the ex corporal on April 5, 2009 at a police check-point at Ketu-Alapere, Lagos, shot at a Nissan Sunny car conveying the deceased and her parents.
According to Ogungbesan, the incident occurred at Obanle Aro bus stop, Ketu-Alarape at about 9.30 pm when little Kasufara muritala and her parents were returning from a naming ceremony. Suddenly, they were attacked by some policemen. Saliu Muritala, the girl’s father was hit on his hand while the little girl was shot on her head. Luckily, Mrs. Muritala escaped unhurt.
On sighting the bleeding father and his dead daughter, the five policemen from Alarepe Police Station, including Nwabueze, who caused the mayhem fled from the check point.
In her judgment, Akinlade held that the prosecution proved its case against Nwabueze beyond all reasonable doubt.
She disclosed that the defendant in his confessional statement to the police after his arrest, had admitted shooting at the rear of the car but not with the intention to kill the deceased, which she saw as a flimsy excuse and not acceptable by law.