Matthew Ahmed, a police inspector assigned to the Ajah division in Lagos State, gave a courtroom testimony in Drambi Vandi’s murder trial. Vandi is the suspended police officer accused of killing Raheem Bolanle, a lawyer from Lagos.
The policeman who is a member of the state’s Ajah region’s Ajiwe police division on Christmas Day fatally shot Mrs Raheem.
Before his testimony, he had pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of murder filed against him by the Lagos State government.
Shortly after his plea, his colleague, Mr Ahmed, a police inspector, testified before the court as the first prosecution witness in the trial on Monday at the Lagos high court’s Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) annexe.
Mr Ahmed told the court that he was one of the three police officers from the division deployed to the Ajah underbridge, on 25 December.
Narrating what happened, Mr Ahmed said he and two other police officers were deployed to Ajah underbridge on Christmas Day.
The police inspector mentioned the names of the two other police officers as Mr Ebieme and Mr Vandi, who is the defendant.
“While we were at the duty post at Ajah underbridge, we were conducting stop and search,” he recounted.
“Inspector Ebieme was at the front while I stood in the middle, and SUPOL Vandi was the last man at the back.
“Inspector Ebieme flagged down a car (referring to the deceased husband’s car), the car did not stop, I also flagged down the car, and the car did not stop for me,” he said.
“After that, the next thing I heard was a gunshot. I looked back to see what is happening, I saw a car in which the front window was falling down.
The witness said they were conducting a stop-and-search exercise when the incident happened at Ajah underbridge, adding that he was the only one unarmed in the three-man patrol team.
He said Mr Ebieme, a police inspector, stood at the front of the patrol team, while he was standing in the middle and the defendant was at the back.
“The next thing I saw is that one black woman jumped down from the vehicle. She held SUPOL Vandi and she said ‘oga, you have killed my sister’.
“The woman held him. The next thing, they entered the car and they all zoomed off.”
Ahmed said he and Ebieme left the scene after the deceased’s husband drove away.
He said Vandi was later brought to the Ajah police station after which three of them were asked to write statements on what transpired.
The defendant’s attorney, Odutola Adetokunbo, also cross-examined the police inspector.
Adetokunbo questioned Ahmed about the difference between a gunshot and noise during the cross-examination. The defence attorney said that the police inspector stated in his statement that he heard the noise after stopping the deceased’s husband’s car.
In response, the police inspector said he heard a bullet come from behind him.
The case was then postponed to January 25 and 26, with the trial judge granting both sides’ requests to expedite the hearing.
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