The Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a commercial driver, Elijah Shokoya, to 12 years imprisonment for killing an officer of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Olawale Akinmade.

Akinmade died on January 27, 2021.

The presiding judge, Justice Oyindamola Ogala, on Thursday, July 4, 2024, sentenced Shokoya to 12 years jail term after she held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt, the charge of involuntary manslaughter against the driver.

Justice Ogala, in her judgment, held that the prosecution established beyond reasonable doubt that the unlawful acts of the convict caused the death of the LASTMA officer.

She also held that the acts of the convict which eventually caused Akinmade’s death were with the knowledge that injury or grievous bodily harm was the probable consequence.

According to her, the position of the law was well settled that the burden of proof in criminal cases rested on the prosecution and the standard of proof was proved beyond reasonable doubt.

The judge said: “As regards the death of Akinmade Samson Olawale, there seems to be no dispute as to the death of the deceased.

“The testimonies of the first prosecution witness, Aderonke Malik, testified that she saw the defendant pushing the deceased into the front of his vehicle.

“Her testimony is that she ran there asking the defendant to stop the car but he did not and that the deceased kept on banging the bonnet of the vehicle to stop.

“She testified that the defendant did not stop until he knocked down the deceased.

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“Also, in this instant case, it is instructive that the Investigating Police Officer gave direct evidence of what she saw, heard, and investigated.

“The court, therefore, finds that the evidence cannot be faulted as suggested by the defence in this instance.

“Once the ingredients of the offence the accused is charged with are proved, that constitutes proof beyond a reasonable doubt and for him to be entitled to the benefit of the doubt, the doubt must be a genuine and reasonable one arising from some evidence before the court.

“This honourable court, therefore, finds the defendant guilty of the one count charge of involuntary manslaughter and he is accordingly convicted.

“I hereby sentenced the defendant to 12 years imprisonment from the day of judgment.”

The Lagos State Government had charged the convict of knocking down Akinmade with a blue and black Opel space bus while controlling traffic.

The prosecution said the driver committed the offence on Demurin Street junction inward Mile 12 in Lagos.

Shokoya was arraigned on June 23, 2021, and pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge.

According to the prosecution, the offence violates Section 224 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The Star