POLICE WITNESS DESCRIBES HOW COP VANDI KILLED RAHEEM DURING A STOP-AND-FRISK.

An Inspector of Police, Matthew Ahmen, a colleague of Drambi Vandi, who allegedly killed female lawyer Bolanle Raheem, told a Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square on Monday that the incident occurred while they were conducting a stop and search.

He stated that Vandi, their team’s leader, was in the back, he was in the middle, and another colleague, Inspector Dimini, was in front.

The first prosecution witness, Ahmen, stated that when Dimini saw a car approaching, he flagged it down but it did not stop, and when the car arrived at where he was standing, he also flagged it down but it did not stop.

“The next thing I heard was a gunshot, and I looked back to see what was going on, and I saw that a windscreen was falling,” he said.

“The next thing I saw was a dark woman jump out of the vehicle, and I heard her say, ‘oga you have killed my sister.'” The woman had him in her grip, and before I and Dimini could intervene, they had entered the car, locked it, and driven away.”

Vandi had previously been charged with one count of murder before Justice Ibironke Harrison.

The suspended assistant superintendent of police’s trial began on Monday after he pleaded not guilty to Raheem’s murder.

Vandi pleaded not guilty to the murder charge after the charge sheet was read to him.

On Christmas Day, Raheem was allegedly shot dead by Vandi in Lagos’ Ajah neighborhood.

She was said to be returning home from a family outing when she was shot.

Many people and organizations in the country expressed outrage over Raheem’s death, calling it an extrajudicial killing and citing it as one of the reasons for the nationwide #EndSARS protest in 2020.

Vandi was arrested and appeared in court on December 30, 2022, a day after the Police Service Commission approved his suspension.