Delivering his judgment on Monday, Justice Adolphus Enebeli of the Rivers State High Court, has sentenced 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 Onyekachi who was a graduate of Industrial Chemistry, and was branded an armed robber by the police while he was on his way to distribute his products, and was murdered by the Police at about 5:00am on November 10, 2010 at No. 34, Old Aba Road, Port Harcourt.
The deceased was shot dead by a team of Policemen, led by Timothy at the front of his residence, even after he shouted to the hearing of the policemen that he was only a pure water producer and not an armed robber.
The trial judge whose ruling took about three hours, declared that the convict (Timothy) demonstrated an act of inhumanity through his action. He 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, adding that based on the law and the circumstances surrounding the death, 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.
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