BOLANLE RAHEEM MURDER: PROSECUTION CLOSES CASE AS DEFENSE SEEKS TO QUASH CHARGES
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
The counsel representing Drambi Vandi, the police officer who allegedly shot and killed Lagos-based lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem last Christmas, has told the court hearing the murder trial that he will be filing a no-case application in a bid to quash the criminal charge.
Adetokunbo Odutola made this known shortly after Lagos State attorney-general closed the case of the state government upon the discharge of his last witness.
At the resumed hearing, before the Lagos High Court, Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Annex, Justice Ibironke Harrison, told the prosecution and defense teams to file an adoption of their final written addresses.
She said this after listening to the testimony of the 11th prosecuting witness, Dr Williams Oluwaseun Olatunde, a pathologist and forensic expert who told the court how the post-mortem examination was conducted on the deceased.
He narrated that on the autopsy date, after the body was wheeled into the morgue, Mr. Gbenga Raheem, the husband of the deceased and an investigating police officer, assigned from the State Criminal Investigating Department (SCID) were invited to identify the body before his team proceeded to take the measurements of heights, weight and forensic photographs which included the clothing of the deceased.
He went further to say that, “The body was undressed and we identified all internal defects and took their photographs. The sizes of these defects were measured and recorded.
Next, we proceeded to the internal examination and various internal injuries were identified and recorded”.
“The findings from the external to internal is that there were multiple defects mainly on the Anterior Chest wall and one defect from the left Axillary fold.”
“On internal examination, there were multiple visceral or organ injury and musculoskeletal injury and the specific injuries includes multiple rib fracture, multiple injuries to the intercostal spaces and injuries to both Lungs.”
Dr. Williams further stated that he was able to established three things from the examination conducted which could be the cause of death as hemorrhagic shock, destruction of the chest visceral and musculoskeletal tissues.
“The defect was caused by the largest shattered bullet fragment. The targetary path of the bullet is determined by the relative positions positions of all injuries to each other. In this case, we determine that the trajectory path was from left to right.
“The base of the severity of the injuries seen, the bullet was moving at maximum force which was likely to be a discharge from a close range. A bullet could strike an object and bounce in the direction of the body”.
“In simple terms, the deceased was pregnant within the period of less than 3 months.” he added.
During cross examination, Mr. Odutola asked the pathologist if he can determine through his postmortem report, the person who pulled the trigger that killed the deceased, he replied no that he could not determine that.
Odutola also argued that the witness based his postmortem records on media reports. Dr. Williams responded that all conclusions were made based on findings discovered during autopsy.
He added that the degree of explosive force of a bullet of discharged from an AK-47, is thousands of the magnitude of a fire hose, that will penetrate into the body, whether the individual is standing or sitting.
Without re-examination, Justice Ibironke Harrison announced the prosecutor has closed its case, with an order, that both counsels should file adoption for final written address within 5 days, thereby, adjourning to February 28, 2023.
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