A Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Thursday sentenced Olalekan Ogunyemi, a dismissed police officer, to life imprisonment for the killing of a 36-year-old man, Kolade Johnson.
The judge, Adenike Coker, found Olalekan guilty of manslaughter. Johnson was shot dead during a raid by police officers at the Onipetesi area in Lagos, while watching an English premiership match on March 31, 2019
Ogunyemi, who was attached to the Special Anti-Cultism Squad of the Nigeria Police, was later indicted and dismissed from the Nigerian police force following an orderly room trial.
Following widespread outrage from Nigerians, the convict was arrested and subsequently dismissed from the Police Force while another officer Godwin Orji, a sergeant, who was also tried alongside the killer cop, was demoted.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, September 22, Mrs. Coker found the former inspector guilty of killing Mr. Johnson and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
However, the judge held that the convict will be eligible for parole after serving a minimum of 25 years in prison. Although the former police inspector was originally charged with murder, the court found him guilty of manslaughter as a result of a lack of intention on his part.
During the trial, the prosecution called seven witnesses, while the defense called two witnesses.
Oluwaseun Williams, a pathologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, who testified as the sixth witness, said the deceased suffered six gunshot injuries that led to his death.
“There were four injuries on the thigh, two injuries on the hands, one on the right hemiscrotum (either half of a scrotum), one on the left hemiscrotum”
“We counted six injuries identified as firearm injuries,” Mr. Williams said during cross-examination.
