A security guard, Azeez Ibrahim, who was accused of killing a female undergraduate of the Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, Adebusayo Ogunkoya, with a pump action gun, has denied murdering her but admits that the bullet that killed the victim came from his gun.
It revealed that Ogunkoya was shot dead at a birthday party in a hotel in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State on July 5, 2014.
The 22-year-old Ogunkoya was celebrating with her friends at the Mambillah Hotel when she was allegedly shot by the guard, who was reportedly drunk.
It was gathered that the bullet lodged in the neck region of the victim and when she was rushed to a private hospital in the area, she was pronounced dead on arrival.
A source had told revealed that Ogunkoya did not know the host but was invited to the party by her boyfriend.
The source had said, “The party was going on fine until the security man, who was holding a gun, which he claimed he had seized from some robbers, mishandled the gun and fired a shot, which hit Busayo. The guard was said to be drunk.”
Ibrahim is facing one count of murder contrary to and punishable under Section 222 (2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, Ibrahim, who told Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya of the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere that he was the only one that went upstairs with a pump action gun, said he did not know how the bullet left the gun and killed the deceased, adding that the men who came with the victim struggled to take the gun away from him.
Ibrahim, while being led in evidence by his lawyer, Olarenwaju Adebayo, told the court that he was a member of the Odua People’s Congress.
He said, “I am not trained in handling pump action gun by the OPC; I was trained as a security man, but I don’t have a certificate to that effect.
“The boys, who came to the hotel on the day of the incident, were members of the Eiye Confraternity. I had only worked at the hotel for six months when the incident happened, but I know that the men were cultists from their behaviour.
“I didn’t fire the shot that day; it is only God that knows how the bullet left my gun and killed the deceased.”
Ibrahim, during cross-examination by the prosecutor, Adebayo Haroun, maintained that the men were members of the EiyeConfraternity because they had been arrested before.
Earlier, the father of the deceased, Adewale Ogunkoya, said he was informed of his daughter’s death by the police.
He said, “I am the father of Miss Ogunkoya Adebusayo, who was shot dead on July 5, 2014, at one hotel in Ikorodu by one security man as reported to me by my son and the police in Ikorodu. Busayo was a 200-level student of Political Science at the Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, and also a student of a fashion school in Agidingbi Ikeja.
“I was informed by a police officer, who called me on the phone, and I directed my son, Adebola, to go to the police station to verify what had happened.
“I did not expect my daughter to be at the Mambillah Hotel at that particular time that she was said to have been hit by the gunshot that caused her death.
As for this issue, going to court will not bring my daughter back and as a Christian, I leave everything to God to judge.”
The brother of the deceased, Adebola, also told the court that he was called by a friend that he should go to the Owutu Police Station to find out what had happened to his sister.
He added that he wrote an application for the waiver of an autopsy, withdrawal of the case and the release of the corpse, and also sworn to an affidavit dated July 16, 2014, on the instruction of his father.
Justice Ogunsanya adjourned the matter till February 6, 2019, for the continuation of trial.
Leave a Reply