Trigger-happy corp bags 12 years in jail
Five years after the incident that claimed the life of a banker in the Abuja, justice has come to the family of the Mrs. Doris Nonye Okere, as Justice Silvanus C. Oriji, of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting at Apo, Abuja has sentenced a police officer, Olotu Owoicho, to 12 years imprisonment for causing the death of the deceased, who was killed in 2011.
The judge delivered the verdict Wednesday, six years after late Mrs. Okere was hit by a bullet released from an AK47 in the hands of Owoicho, a police officer attached with the police headquarters, but posted to the Mpape branch of Zenith Bank PLC, a suburb of Abuja.
Owoicho, father of four children was arraigned on 28 June, 2011, on two-count charge of culpable homicide punishable with death and also causing grievous by reckless use of firm arm. He pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.
However, the court convicted Owoicho, for the offence of culpable homicide not punishable with death (manslaughter) contrary to section 222 (7) of the Penal Code punishable under section 224 thereof which prescribed life imprisonment or lesser term.
The judge also found the convict not guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death, saying the prosecution had failed to establish that he intended to cause the death of the deceased.
After listening to the plea of Owoicho’s counsel, Barrister Noah Imoni, urged the court to temper justice with mercy as he had been in prison custody since December 31, 2011 when the incident occurred, the judge sentenced him for the term of 12 years, running retrospectively from 28 June, 2011.
Recall that late Doris, who was a cashier with the then Bank PHB, Wuse zone 1 branch, became another victim of the many incidences of extra-judicial killings by some trigger-happy security operatives in the Nigeria, in the excuse of trying to enforce the law.
The incident happened the morning of January 31, 2011 when the convict, of the Squadron 44, who was the chief security officer in charge of all the security operatives in the bank, opened fire on a taxi
conveying the deceased to her work place when her son was barely eleven months old.
Owoicho, was said to have reacted angrily by firing bullets at vehicle when the driver allegedly ignored his warning not to make a U-turn around the vicinity of the bank; and the bullets from his gun instantly snuffed the life out of late Doris, an incident which aggravated sympathizers who besieged the bank and set it ablaze.
The judge delivered the verdict Wednesday, six years after late Mrs. Okere was hit by a bullet released from an AK47 in the hands of Owoicho, a police officer attached with the police headquarters, but posted to the Mpape branch of Zenith Bank PLC, a suburb of Abuja.
Owoicho, father of four children was arraigned on 28 June, 2011, on two-count charge of culpable homicide punishable with death and also causing grievous by reckless use of firm arm. He pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him.
However, the court convicted Owoicho, for the offence of culpable homicide not punishable with death (manslaughter) contrary to section 222 (7) of the Penal Code punishable under section 224 thereof which prescribed life imprisonment or lesser term.
The judge also found the convict not guilty of culpable homicide punishable with death, saying the prosecution had failed to establish that he intended to cause the death of the deceased.
After listening to the plea of Owoicho’s counsel, Barrister Noah Imoni, urged the court to temper justice with mercy as he had been in prison custody since December 31, 2011 when the incident occurred, the judge sentenced him for the term of 12 years, running retrospectively from 28 June, 2011.
Recall that late Doris, who was a cashier with the then Bank PHB, Wuse zone 1 branch, became another victim of the many incidences of extra-judicial killings by some trigger-happy security operatives in the Nigeria, in the excuse of trying to enforce the law.
The incident happened the morning of January 31, 2011 when the convict, of the Squadron 44, who was the chief security officer in charge of all the security operatives in the bank, opened fire on a taxi
conveying the deceased to her work place when her son was barely eleven months old.
Owoicho, was said to have reacted angrily by firing bullets at vehicle when the driver allegedly ignored his warning not to make a U-turn around the vicinity of the bank; and the bullets from his gun instantly snuffed the life out of late Doris, an incident which aggravated sympathizers who besieged the bank and set it ablaze.
