A Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square was told how the stained Lagos based lawyer Mrs. Omobolanle Raheem was killed in the presence of her family members on Christmas Day by an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr. Drambi Vandi.
Husband of the late Bolanle Raheem, Gbenga Raheem in evidence before the court stated that he was in shock at the moment of the incident and did not see the defendant shoot his wife but his sister in-law did and he also saw the defendant point a gun at her.
“Omobolanle Raheem was my wife, we got married about 10 years ago. On the 25th of Dec, 2022, Christmas day, the whole family woke up to a Surprise gift I had given every body because I had gone out the previous day to get gifts. The children woke up to their gifts under their pillow. And for my wife, I wrapped a set of Jewelry and put it by her side. She woke up that morning very glad. Though she was pregnant, we had an intimate moment that morning because she was very glad. After that we had light breakfast In the morning with the Children.
“After we finished, we went to a nearby church with the new car She was gifted the Friday before the Chistmas Sunday. A Property developer gifted her the car because she had met her target. She was a very hardworking woman. The Car Was a Toyota Venza.
“Normally, we go to RCCG Ikoyi on Sunday, but on that particular Sunday, our own Church, had a general program at Surulere called Go-A-fishing. So we decided to go to a nearby church which was where we got married.
“The headquarters is located beside Lagos business School Ajah and my wife was close to the founding Pastors. They were part of the people that brought her up spiritually when she was growing up and they also had just lost a son. So, my wife went to greet them after service. When she finished greeting everyone, we left. My wife decided to take everyone out for pizza.
“We bought ice cream, yoghurt and pizza then we went to dominos pizza towards the ajah bridge direction. We ate the domino pizza and ice cream there, not takeaway from there we went towards ajah bridge to do a U-turn. As I did, I saw police officers ahead of me. I don’t really know how many of them were there.
“I kept going, following the car in front of me then the car slowed down, so I went to its left and overtook the car. There was an officer on my left who said I should park. While I was trying to park because he was actually following me, all of a sudden I just heard a loud sound on my wife’s side of the window. The window got smashed and I saw blood on her chest. I quickly parked to the right and ran out of the vehicle.
“My sister in law, Titi who was sitted directly behind my wife with the five children and at the back also ran to the police officer. We ran to meet the officer, he was the only one I really saw. I didn’t see the others because he was the same person who raised a gun at Titi and made a conscious effort to identify him.
“I was devastated, holding my head seeing blood on my wife’s chest, my life crumbled. Then I remembered the boys in the area shouting that we should block the road in other to raise alarm and let people know what the police had done.
Can you recognize the police officer, if you see him?
Yes, I can.
He was asked if the defendant in the box is the police officer and he said he looks like him.
He looks like him or he is the one?
“He is the one that shot my wife, he affirmed.
“Titi grabbed the officer who shot my wife and started shouting ‘you have shot my sister, you have killed my sister as she pushed him to the front seat where my wife was sitted.
“At that time my wife was still conscious, I sped off with the car forgetting that Titi had not boarded the car. I left her there.
I ran to take her to the hospital. The officer was sitting at the front seat with my wife.
“When we got to Abraham Adesanya we did a U-turn there. we got to the first hospital Epodo hospital, I carried her inside, I was shouting please help help, emergency, my wife has been shot. I carried her into one of the emergency rooms upstairs, one of the doctors came and said he could not handle that matter there. he then said we should take her to the next hospital which was Doren hospital.
“At Doren hospital, I asked for the emergency room, I shouted for help. The doctor asked what happened and I told him my wife was shot and the police were aware. I don’t know how the defendant didn’t follow me to the hospital, I only know he helped me put her in the car at Budo hospital.
“I begged the doctor to please help save her life that my wife is pregnant.
They brought oxygen and placed it on her nose, then they brought cotton wool for her chest to absorb the blood.
“She tried to pray but the doctor said she should not talk. later she said, she can’t breathe, she can’t breathe. After a while the doctor said we needed to take her to another hospital at Grandville VGC.
When they brought the oxygen cylinder I pleaded with them to save her, I went to my car to pick my phone and showed them my account balance that money is not the problem, they should just save my wife.
“When they said we needed to take her to vgc, I said okay let’s go, where’s the ambulance, when they went to get the ambulance, they said the driver is not around, I told them to give me the key that I can drive the ambulance, they said the driver is with the key.
At this point I noticed my wife was getting weak, I told them to help me carry her into my car and begged the doctor to follow us because at that point, they had started pressing her chest. So when the doctor did not want to follow because according to him, he was the only doctor on duty, I asked him to give me a male nurse who was there and I tried to push the nurse into my car and he said I was harassing him, which was true. When I saw they were not going to come along at all, a Police van had come to Doren, I told them we were told to go to Grandville hospital.
“I left Doren to go to VGC with the police officers who followed in their van. we got to vgc, they didn’t tell me exactly where, I thought the security will direct me to where it was located. They directed me to the hospital, when I got there it was on the other side of the road. We had to go out again to the express and the police van still followed behind. when I got to Grandville, I ran out of the car and shouted emergency. A lady doctor came out, I thought they will rush her in but instead they started checking for pulse, It was then she discovered that she had passed on. I was shattered. I couldn’t talk again and the police carried her by themselves into their van. I looked at her lifeless body at the back of the van and said my wife is gone.
“It took me a while to put myself together because everything was over. The police said they needed to take the body to the island that I should follow them.
I now tried calling Titi to know her whereabout and to tell her what had happened and to ask if the children were fine and to take them home because the police had asked me to follow them with my wife’s body.
“I could not reach her, I asked the police men where my children were, they said they are fine, I said, “where are they?”
“When they could not give me a clear answer. I told them to give me an officer who will be coordinating with me because at that point I was weak.
“They took few minutes to deliberate on what to do but I insisted I needed to know the children were fine before I go with them, we now agreed that I should go and sort out the children and meet them at the police station. so I left them. at this point I had no strength in me and was driving very slow. I went towards ajah. when I descended one of my neighbours who stays very close to my estate saw me and was honking at me Baba G how far, but I coul not respond. I was so shattered, I had no strength in me.
At this point he knew something was wrong because I was just going slowly, when I got to Podo hospital, I parked and he also parked. he screamed and said what happened. I told him. the children are at Podo that he should just help me take them to the house. The staff of the hospital still recognized me because my clothes were stained with blood. I asked where my children were, they said they were upstairs and I told them to bring them down, so we crossed again to the other side of the road.
“I told him that I was going to get my charger since I did not know how long I will be at the police station and I told him to drive slowly so I can get back to the house and pick up the charger before he gets to the house with the children.
“When I got home, I saw my sister inlaw, she asked where everybody was and I could not answer her, I went upstairs to take my charger. I told her the children were coming that she should take care of the children.
“As I was about leaving for the station, I told my sister in law and her husband what had happened briefly that my wife had died and that I was going to the police station. I saw them at the gate of the main express. Then they followed me to Ajiwe police station, we got there and they took us to the DPO’s office. later on they said I needed to come write my statement, so I wrote on everything that happened. My neighbors in the Estate came to the station also.
Onigbanjo asked, “Did you threaten the life of the police men you saw?
Not at all, he said.
Did your sister in law threaten the police men?
“All the windows were up, so we didn’t have any interaction with them, Gbenga said.
“As you approached the checkpoint before your wife was shot, was there any form of unrest going on?
“There was no unrest whatsoever, everything was normal before we got there”.
As you heard this sound, and you saw blood all over your wife, was there any damage to your car?
“Only the side window was smashed”.
You said you had made a U-turn, was he the first officer that flagged you down? Odutola asked during cross examination
“There were not exactly at the U-turn but further after the U-turn. After I passed the first officer, the second officer on my left said park! park! while he was still telling me to park then I saw the other window shattered and saw blood on my wife’s chest so I quickly parked to the right.
Can you tell the court where the defendant was.
When I parked I came out of the front, Titi came out of the back and then we went to the back where we came from and he raised his gun. He came towards us, I didn’t really see the other officers come towards us.
“That was when people were saying, do not let them go o, block the road o, block the road o”.
When the second officer told you to park, did you see any other officer in front of you.
“No, I was concentrating on the one on my left.
Did you see any of the officers pull the trigger or shoot at your wife? Did you equally see the defendant shoot at your wife or pull the trigger at her?
“The reason I did not see him was because I was focused on the officer who told me to park. At least I saw him raise his gun at my sister in law as we alighted from the car. I took caution not to aggravate him more.
Defense counsel, Odutola said, “I put it to you that that bullet must have come from someone else around and not from him.
While Gbenga replied, “with all due respect, please be sensitive to this matter because it is my wife died.
We are trying to bring out the truth so as not to erroneously accuse the innocent, said Odutola.
The witness is here to say what he saw not what he thinks, Onigbanjo stated.
How many minutes did take to go from hospital to hospital, asked again Odutola.
“Not more than forty minutes. we spent the most minute in Doren. From the hospital down to when I got to police station was about thirty to forty minutes.
Which totals about 1hour.
She dragged him to the front seat, was the defendant with his gun?
My concern was for me to save my wife, so I can’t say I saw him with his gun.
Can we say your sister in law disarmed him?
No, she did not. Although I took caution but she was bold enough.
Can you recall that you also made a written statement
Yes sir.
The statement dated December 27 was admitted in court and marked exhibit four.
Justice Shonaike adjourned till February 1st and 2nd, 2023 for continuation of trial.
Earlier, sister to the deceased also testified against the alleges killer cop.
