"JUSTICE AT LAST" Corporal To Die By Hanging After 3 Years Of Investigation

"JUSTICE AT LAST" Corporal To Die By Hanging After 3 Years Of Investigation

•Court sentences policeman to death for killing baby at checkpoint

Justice eventually took its course yesterday as a Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja, sentenced an ex-police corporal, Ikechukwu Nwabueze to death for killing a three-year-old baby girl. Nwabueze, 35, was accused of killing Kafusara Muritala in April 2009 at Mr. Biggs Junction, Alapere, Ketu area of Lagos State when he opened fire on a car the little girl and his parents were travelling in. Delivering her judgment yesterday, Justice Olabisi Akinlade stated that she found the ex-corporal guilty of the murder and, therefore, sentenced him to death by hanging.

“By his training as a police officer he (Nwabueze) cannot claim ignorance of the probable consequences of shooting at the vehicle. “If indeed he shot the car in the rear, the bullet would not have hit the occupants of the car.
“I therefore hold that the defendant had intention to kill or cause bodily harm to the occupants of the car. I find the defendant guilty as charged,” the court stated. Justice Akinlade said the weight of evidence before the court showed that Nwabueze had the intention to kill. Justice Akinlade stated that with the evidence given by the prosecution witnesses; the father of the deceased baby, Sgt Adeboye James of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba; Professor John Obafunwa, the pathologist who conducted autopsy on the deceased and ASP Atunbi Jeremiah, a police ballistician, the court had no doubt that Nwabueze had intention of either to kill or cause bodily harm. Justice Akinlade, who noted some inconsistencies in the testimony of Nwabueze, said a recanted confessional statement does not necessarily cancel its relevance. The court held that Nwabueze’s statement at the State CID was consistent with the evidence-in-chief of the father of the deceased as well as police investigator. According to the court, Nwabueze’s testimony in court was “a pure after-thought. It is clear that the bullet fired by Nwabueze was aimed at the occupants of the vehicle. He had intention to kill or cause bodily harm. “It is trite law that the confessional statement of a defendant is relevant regardless of the fact that it is recanted. It is also trite that a person can be convicted on the basis of the confessional statement. “It is my opinion that the evidence of PWI is consistent with the testimonies of PW 2 and PW 3.” After being pronounced guilty, counsel to Nwabueze, A.O. Omodele made an allocutus for the court to temper justice with mercy on the grounds that the convict was at his duty post when the offence was committed and that he was a first offender. He also said Nwabueze was a young man, who was yet to be married and had a lot to contribute to the nation.
Reacting, Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mrs. Olabisi Ogungbesan opposed Omodele’s plea, saying: “We do not have enough records of the defendant. Notwithstanding, the menace of police in releasing bullets recklessly on innocent citizens should be discouraged.” The judge, however, said she was not convinced of any reason why she should show some leniency. “Only God knows what Kafusara Muritala would have become in future.
I hope members of the Nigerian Police will learn a lesson from him and stop extra-judicial killings. “The sentence of the court upon you is that you be hanged on the neck until you are dead. And may God have mercy on your soul.” Kafusara and other members of her family including her father, Salau Murtala and mother were returning from a naming ceremony on the fateful day when they ran into a police check point mounted by Nwabueze and his colleagues.
The family said they were not stopped by the policemen on duty at the checkpoint but only heard a gunshot just as they drove past the checkpoint. The bullet from the gunshot was said to have pierced through the back windshield of the Nissan Sunny car they were travelling in, killing the little girl in the process. Nwabueze, who was later dismissed from the Police Force, was said to have confessed during investigation that he shot dead the deceased little girl.
But during the trial, the ex-cop said he was coerced to make the confessional statement by the investigating police officer who handled the case. He also stated while giving evidence before the court that he was not the only one that fired shots into the air and that other members of his team also did same.