Slain Lawyer: How My Wife Was Shot in the Chest, Husband Tells Court

Vandi threatened to shoot me, says slain lawyer’s sister

Wale Igbintade

In an emotion-laden voice, Gbenga Raheem, husband of Omobolanle Raheem, the female lawyer who was shot dead by an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Drambi Vandi, yesterday narrated before a Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, how his wife was shot in the chest.

The witness, who testified before Justice Ibironke Harrison, said he was about to obey the order of the Police Officer asking him to park, when he heard a sound on the passenger’s window and the window was smashed.

Led in evidence-in-chief by the Attorney General of Lagos and Commissioner for Justice Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, the witness said they were coming from World Assembly Church where they got married 10 years ago, when the incident occurred.

He said: “We stay at Ajah and on Sunday we normally go to Redeemed Christian Church of God at Ikoyi. But on that particular Sunday our own Church was having a general programme, called ‘Let’s go fishing’ at Surulere.

“So we decided to go to The World Assembly Church where we got married 10 years ago, because my wife was very close to the founder of the Church. They brought my wife up spiritually when she was growing up.

“They had also lost a son, so we went to greet them after service, when she finished greeting them, my wife said it will be nice if we can get everyone, pizza. So we went to get Ice Cream and Yoghurt at Domino’s pizza, near Ajah under bridge. After buying the pizza and ice cream, we went towards Ajah under bridge to make a U-turn, to come back towards Abraham Adesanya, because our house was a few bus stops before Abraham Adesanya.

“As I did U-turn, and saw police officers ahead and the car in front of me slowed down, I overtook the car and there was an officer on my left that said I should park.

“While he was still saying that I should park because he was following me, all of a sudden I just heard a sound on the passenger’s window and the window smashed and I saw blood gushing on my wife’s chest.

“I quickly parked and ran out of the car  with my sister in-law Titi, because the children were in the car and she was seating directly behind my wife. She is the one that had four children that were in the car, we just had one daughter.”

The witness explained that after they got out of the car, his sister in-law held the defendant and he pointed his gun at her that he threatened to shoot her.

He said: “ I was very conscious of him, I held my head, I was devastated, it was a bad dream that just happened and my life was just going blank. Then some guys said we should block the road and raise alarm so that people can see what the police have done.

“ My sister in-law pushed the defendant in front of the car and said you shot my sister, you killed my sister, my wife was still conscious I hurried off and left my sister in-law to take my wife to the hospital. When we got to Bodu Hospital, I carried her inside and started shouting emergency, please help me, my wife has been shot. I took my wife down stairs and the doctor said he could not handle it and referred me to Doren Hospital.

“At Doren Hospital I asked for the emergency room. I was shooting please help me, my wife had just been shot, the doctor asked me how it happened, I said my wife was shot and the police are aware.

“They brought an oxygen, and put it in her nose and a needle in her hand and a cotton wool to try and absolve the blood.

“She tried to pray and the doctor told her not to talk, she said I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe and after a while the doctor said we need to take her to Granville Hospital at VGC.

“ When they took the oxygen cylinder away I knelt down and pleaded with them pleas save my wife. I went to pick my phone from the car and showed them my account balance. I said expense was not the issue.

“ So when they said we need to take her to Granville Hospital in VGC, they went to get the ambulance, and when they came back they said the driver was not around.

“I told them to bring the key that I can drive it they went inside and came back in few minutes and said that the driver went with the key. I now noticed that my wife was getting weak. I begged the doctor to follow us at that time they had started pressing her chest. So when the doctor didn’t want to follow me, I said please give me a nurse because the doctor said he couldn’t leave the hospital as he was the only one around.

“When I got to Granville, I ran inside and started shooting please help me emergency, my wife has been shot. Then a female doctor came out, I thought that they would have taken her in but she started checking her pause and then said she has passed on.

“I was shattered, I couldn’t speak again, then the police picked her and put her in their van, and I just looked at my wife’s lifeless body and I was like my wife has gone. It took me a while to put myself together because everything was over,” he said.

Earlier in his evidence, Gbenga  told the court that the car where the deceased was killed by Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, was gifted to her.

He said she received the car on Friday December 23, 2022, from a property developer that she worked with two days before she was shot dead.

Gbenga, a property developer stated that the car was a Toyta Venza which was gifted to her because she met her target as she was a very hard working women.

He stated that they got married 10 years ago and on Christmas Day, the whole family woke up to suprise gifts from his late wife, which she placed under everybody’s pillows so that the children could see it.

According to him, he bought a jewelry for his wife and when she saw it, she was happy.

In her testimony, the sister of the deceased Mrs. Titilayo Enema, said on that day Omobolanle asked her to prepare Chicken and chips for her before they left for church.

She said that she saw the defendant carry gun and when they heard the gun shot she thought the defendant just hit the windscreen.

“ I just heard my sister say Gbenga bullet has entered my chest, she repeated it the second time, immediately her neck just dropped, her tongue was out then her eye closed.

“ I shouted Mummy Semilore, I ran out of the vehicle and held the police officer and said you just shot my sister now. The defendant pointed his gun at me and said  I will shot you.

“Then I said oga, it is either you shoot me and kill me, just the way you have done to my sister, I will not leave you. I dragged him and said you will sit down near my sister that you just shot.

“Then I saw my brother in-law I thought he would join me but he was rolling on the ground. I noticed that the defendant wanted to enter the patrol van I dragged him down, he saw a mini- bus and wanted to enter then I also dragged him down.

“ I went to Ajiwe police station and started shouting that I want to see the Divisional Police Officer but they kept telling me that he was not around.”

During cross examination, the witness, who said she attended teachers training college.

Enema, who said she was not herself after the incident, insisted that she knew what she saw on that day saying: “I knew what I saw that day, I cannot hold any other police man, when he was the one that shot my sister.”

“ I was at the police station and I told the DPO that he was the one that shot the gun, and the defendant couldn’t say anything,” he added.

The case was adjourned till February 1 and 2, for continuation of trial.