A Lagos state high court in Ikeja sentenced a former police officer, Ogunyemi Olalekan, to life in prison for the murder of 35-year-old Kolade Johnson.
Olalekan, who was said to be a member of the Nigeria Police’s Special Anti-Cultism Squad (SACS), shot Mr Johnson in the lower abdomen with an AK-47 rifle at about 5.10 p.m. on Sunday, March 31, 2019, at a viewing center in the Mangoro area of Lagos.
The offense violates Section 223 of the Lagos State Criminal Law of 2015.
Johnson, a football fan, was shot while watching a televised match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
The officers involved in the shooting were later identified as Olalekan, a dismissed police inspector, and Godwin Orji, a sergeant.
Olalekan was fired from the force after an orderly trial, while Orji was acquitted. He was later charged with extrajudicial murder in the death of Johnson.
The prosecution called seven witnesses during the trial, while the defense called only two.
Oluwaseun Williams, a pathologist who testified as the sixth prosecution witness, stated that Johnson had six gunshot wounds.
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Williams, a consultant pathologist at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital’s (LASUTH) Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, said “There were four injuries on the thigh, two injuries on the hands, one on the right hem-iscrotum (either half of a scrotum), one on the left hemi-scrotum.”
“The injury on the left hemi-scrotum was an abrasion which could be from anything and the second-hand injury was not related to injuries caused by gunshots. Six of the injuries were related to the penetrative missiles.
“The injuries on the thigh were through and through. There are features that are suggestive that they were caused by firearm missiles.
“We counted six injuries identified as firearm injuries.
“The anterior defects in the right hemi-scrotum and thigh had dark burn edges caused by something hot and penetrative at the same time which is suggestive of a bullet.”
The pathologist said a wound on the deceased’s left hand was a gunshot injury while the injury on the right hand was a laceration.
“In this case, the cause of death was gunshot injuries,” Williams told the court.
Justice Adenike Coker ruled that the convict; Olalekan did not show any intent to murder the victim.
As a result, the court convicted him (Olalekan) of manslaughter rather than murder.
Furthermore, Justice Coker ruled that Olalekan would be eligible for parole after serving at least 25 years in prison.