Two prosecution witnesses in the on-going trial of the dismissed Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of Pen Cinema Police Station, Agege, Lagos, Segun Fabunmi, accused of shooting some fuel subsidy protesters on January 9, 2012, yesterday, said the indicted officer allegedly snatched a gun from one of his colleagues to perpetrate the act.
The witnesses, Adekunle Alabi and Alimi Abubakar, in their testimonies before Justice Olabisi Akinlade of an Ikeja High Court said the accused police officer shot at several people, including themselves on that fateful day.
Led in evidence by Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, Mrs Olabisi Ogungbesan, the first witness, Abubakar, said he and some of the victims were reading newspapers when they were shot at by the officer.
He also said some of them were pursued by the same officer, while they were running for safety.
Fabunmi is being tried for the alleged murder of one Adedamola Daramola and for also inflicting grievous bodily harm on Abubakar and two other protesters, Egbujor Samuel and Chibuzo Udo, by shooting at them with his gun.
The witness said he was standing with some other persons at Yaya Abatan Junction, Agege, reading newspapers when a police team led by the defendant arrived in two patrol vehicles at about 8 a.m and one of the officers started shooting in the air and ground to scare people.
He said subsequently, Fabunmi snatched a gun from an officer and started shooting at the people at the junction including the deceased, Daramola.
He said: “I can’t state how many times he fired but I was hit by a bullet on my leg. Daramola was standing by my side and the bullet also injured him. He ran towards Abeokuta Street while I ran into a nearby mosque.”
The witness further claimed he saw Fabunmi chasing Daramola and some other persons towards Abeokuta Street from his hide-out inside the mosque.
However, he said he did not witness when Fabunmi shot Daramola, which finally led to his death, because he was hiding.
He said after the policemen ran away from the scene, he was rushed by some boys, alongside the badly injured Daramola, to Ifako General Hospital.
Abubakar also disclosed that Daramola later died as a result of the bullet wounds while he was referred to another hospital for treatment.
The second witness, Alabi, who claimed to reside at 84, Yaya Abatan Street, also gave evidence that he saw Fabunmi snatching the gun from another policeman and shot at the protesters.
He said the deceased, who was a tailor, was among the boys injured after the alleged shooting spree.
Alabi said:”I saw everything from my house where I was hiding. After the police left, I came out and I saw a bullet which I gave to the Baale of the community.
“Some policemen later came and took my statement and asked me to come and give evidence in court.”
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