Policeman to die for killing girl

THREE years after a police corporal shot a three-year old girl to death, a Lagos High Court in Ikeja presided over by Justice Olabisi Akinlade has found the 35-year old ex-policeman, Ikechukwu Nwabueze, guilty of the murder and sentenced him to death by hanging. .

Delivering judgement yesterday, Justice Akinlade said the weight of evidence before the court showed that Nwabueze had the intention to kill.

Nwabueze was alleged to have in April 5, 2009 shot at a car in which the parents, the three-year old Kafusara, and her siblings were commuting at Mr. Biggs Junction at Alapere, Ketu in Lagos. .

Nwabueze and his colleagues were said to have taken to their heels when they discovered that there was a fatality.

 However, Nwabueze, who was later dismissed from the police, was said to have confessed during investigation that he shot dead the deceased little girl.

 During the trial, he alleged that he was coerced to make confessional statement by the police officer who investigated the matter.

 In his testimony before the court, he said they were five policemen in a team at the scene, noting that he was not the only one that fired shots into the air and that other members of his team also did same.

 Justice Akinlade however agreed with the evidence given by the prosecution witnesses; the father of the deceased, Sergeant Adeboye James of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Prof. John Oladapo, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on the deceased, and ASP Atunbi Jeremiah, a police ballistician.

 Justice Akinlade said she noted some inconsistencies in the testimony of Nwabueze and held that a recanted confessional statement does not necessarily cancel its relevance.

 According to the judge,”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 P1 is consistent with the testimonies of PW 2 and PW 3.”

 The judge further noted that the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses were not discredited during cross-examination unlike that of the defence.

 “By his training as a police officer, he (Nwabueze) cannot claim ignorance of the probable consequences of shooting at the vehicle.

 “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.”

 Pleading for the convicted, his counsel, Mr A.O. Omodele appealed to the judge to temper justice with mercy on the grounds that he was at his duty post when the offence was committed and that he was a first offender.

 He also said that Nwabueze was a young man who was yet to be married and had a lot to contribute to the nation.

 Responding to his submission, the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mrs. Olabisi Ogungbesan opposed Omodele’s plea.  “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 therefore said she was not convinced of any reason why she should show some leniency.

 She therefore pronounced: “The sentence of the court upon you is that that you be hung on the neck until you are dead. And may God have mercy on your soul.”