A Rivers State High Court has sentenced
one Inspector Samuel Timothy of the Nigeria Police to death by hanging
for shooting and killing a sachet water dealer, Onyekachi Nwasouba.
The court’s ruling is coming about five
years after Nwasouba was murdered by the police at about 5am on November
10, 2010 at No. 34, Old Aba Road, Port Harcourt.
Nwasouba, who was a graduate of
Industrial Chemistry, was branded an armed robber by the police while he
was on his way to distribute his products to customers within the Port
Harcourt metropolis.
The
deceased was shot dead by a team of policemen, led by Timothy, at the
front of his residence, even after he (Nwasouba) shouted to the hearing
of the policemen that he was only a pure water producer and not an armed
robber.
Delivering his judgment on Monday, the
trial judge, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, declared that the convict
(Timothy) demonstrated an act of inhumanity through his action.
Justice Enebeli, whose ruling took about
three hours, however, discharged and acquitted one Corporal Moses, who
had been standing trial together with the convict.
The judge said that based on the
testimonies of witnesses, including members of the patrol team in the
case, the convict was an “inhuman, trigger-happy policeman, who engages
in murder; a hater of humankind and a merciless killer.”
Explaining that the killing of the
sachet water seller by the convict was deliberate, Justice Enebeli,
maintained that Timothy should die by hanging.
The trial judge added that based on the
law and the circumstances surrounding the death of the graduate of
Industrial Chemistry, he had no power to reduce the sentence.
“According to Section 319 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I do not have the power
to reduce your sentence. That you, Inspector Timothy Samuel be hanged
on your neck until you are dead,” he held.
Justice Enebeli stated that Corporal
Moses was discharged and acquitted because it became clear that the
policemen on duty never conspired to kill the victim (Nwasouba).
Sourced from punchng.com
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