The Lagos Coroner has indicted the police over the death of Jumoke Oyeleke.
Jumoke died on July 3, 2021 from a stray bullet fired by the police during Yoruba rally at Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota.
Delivering his verdict on the incident yesterday at the Samuel Ilori Courthouse, Ogba, the coroner Mukaila Fadeyi declared that the police were responsible for the killing of Jumoke.
Magistrate Fadeyi, after weighing the evidences gathered during the inquest, declared: “The only logical conclusion is that she died from a [bullet] shot by an officer of the Nigerian Police Force.”
The magistrate also expressed displeasure at the conduct and nonchalance of the police officers, including its witness, ACP Tunde Adeniran and the police legal team.
He held that they displayed a lot of disdain throughout the proceedings of the coroner court.
Magistrate Fadeyi urged the Federal Government to pay compensation to the family of the deceased.
The coroner urged the Inspector-General of Police to fish out and punish all bad eggs within the force as a measure to putting an end to accidental shootings in the future.
He advised the Lagos State government to engage the Federal Government on training and re-training of police officers to educate them on the rights of the people to hold peaceful protests in a democracy.
The coroner sympathised with the family of the deceased, noting that the 25-year-old trader must have had lofty dreams she hoped to achieve, but which weren’t met due to the unfortunate circumstances of her death.
During the proceedings of the Coroner Court, a state counsel, Seun Akinde, appeared for the Lagos State Government while the family of the deceased was represented by a lawyer, Taiwo Olawanle.
Nobody represented the Police during the sitting of the coroner court.
Miss Oyeleke was shot dead on July 3, 2021 when the police attempted to disperse the peaceful Yoruba Nation rally at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota by firing guns and tear gas canisters into the air.
The police had denied complicity in her death.
The Police said its officers did not fire any shot at the rally.
However, the autopsy report countered their position.
The Lagos state government had set up a Coroner inquest, to unravel “the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased,establish the identity of the deceased, how, when and where she died.
The court was also mandated to make recommendations to forestall a re-occurrence.
During proceedings of the coroner court, six witnesses including the deceased’s mother; Ifeoluwa Oyeleke, assistant commissioner of police; Tunde Adeniran and Sunday Soyemi, a pathologist with LASUTH testified before the court.
In addition, a trader, David Okebe, had told the coroner that he visited the scene of the incident and that he saw some unidentified police officers ransacking the deceased after she was shot and left her for dead.
