•Report by Kamil Opeyemi
The trial of an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Drambi Vandi charged with Christmas Day killing of a Lagos-based lawyer, Mrs. Bolanle Raheem, last year resumed on Wednesday.
A second prosecution witness, Mr. Fiyegha Ebimine, who is a police officer, testified at the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).
Fiyegha was part of the three-man team led by Vandi from the Ajiwe police station who were conducting a stop and search operation under the Ajah Bridge on the day of the incident.
The witness, who was led in evidence by Commissioner for Justice,Lagos State,Mr Moyo Onigbanjo, corroborated the account of the shooting by the first prosecution witness, Inspector Matthew Ameh, saying he also heard a noise shortly after the deceased and her husband slowly drove past him and Ameh in a Toyota Venza.
“One woman was in the passenger seat, a man was driving. I flagged the vehicle down. It didn’t stop. They passed me. I wondered why. He was not speeding. Ameh also flagged him down but he didn’t stop.
“Shortly,I heard a gunshot from the back. I asked Ameh, ‘What is going on?’ A female passenger in the vehicle where the deceased was hit rushed to ASP Vandi and accused him of killing jet sister,”Fiyegha said
The witness told the court that afterwards a crowd gathered and swooped on Vandi, brought him out of a Korope (commercial minibus) where he had run to hide and put him in the deceased’s car.
He said,”I was trying to find out what was going on. I called Vandi on the phone to find out. I said, ‘Oga, what happened?’ He said, ‘Wait.”
He stressed that Vandi’s response was the same when he called him again minutes later.
Responding to questions from Onigbanjo, the witness said the Venza posed no threat to him or the public when it drove past.
“As the Toyota Venza drove past, was there any threat to your life?” Onigbanji asked
Fiyegha: “No,”
Onigbanjo: “As the Venza approached, was there any threat to the general public?”
Fiyegha: “No, they were peaceful there.”
The witness, who earlier stated that he was armed, denied firing his weapon.
Prosecution had told earlier told the court that Vandi committed the offence on Dec. 25, 2022, at Ajah Roundabout on Lekki- Expressway, Lagos.
According to Onigbanjo, the defendant killed the lawyer, one Mrs Raheem, by shooting her on the chest.
He said that the offence contravened the Criminal Law of Lagos State (2015)
Justice Ibironke Harrison will tomorrow listen to the third and fourth prosecution witnesses, the deceased’s husband, Gbenga Raheem, and her sister.
Bolanle, 41, an award winning property lawyer and real estate consultant with over 10 years of call-to-bar experience was killed on Christmas Day while she was returning from an outing with her family members.