A police officer named Matthew Ahmen, a colleague of Drambi Vandi, who is accused of killing female lawyer Bolanle Raheem, testified before the Lagos State High Court on Monday that they were conducting a stop and search when the incident took place.
He claimed that while he was in the middle and Inspector Dimini was in the front, their team’s leader, Vandi, was in the back.
Ahmen, the first witness for the prosecution, claimed that Dimini flagged down a car as it approached but it did not stop, and that he did the same when the car approached where he was standing.
He said, “The next thing I heard was a gunshot and I looked back to see what was happening and I saw that a windscreen was falling.
“The next thing I saw again was a dark woman who jumped down from the vehicle and I heard her saying that ‘oga you have killed my sister.’ The woman held him and before I and Dimini could get to them, they had entered the car, locked it, and left.”
Earlier, Vandi was arraigned on one count of murder before Justice Ibironke Harrison.
The trial of the suspended assistant superintendent of police commenced on Monday after he pleaded not guilty to the murder of Raheem.
After the charge sheet was read to him, Vandi pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that Raheem was allegedly shot dead by Vandi in the Ajah area of Lagos on Christmas Day.
She was said to be returning home from an outing with her family when she was shot.
Raheem’s death generated widespread criticism from many persons and groups in the country, as they condemned what they described as extrajudicial killing, linking the incident to be one of such reasons for the nationwide #EndSARS protest of 2020.
Vandi was arrested and appeared before Chief Magistrate C.A. Adedayo on December 30, 2022, a day after the Police Service Commission approved his suspension.