A Lagos State High Court, sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a police corporal, Abang Okon, to six years imprisonment for unlawful killing of one Olalekan Ajayi .
Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya imposed the jail term on Okon after he pleaded guilty to a one-count charge preferred against him.
Okon was arraigned before Justice Ogunsanya on April 1, for shooting Ajayi to death at the Ladeja area of Ikorodu in the state.
The defendant, who had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge, later agreed to a plea bargain with the prosecution.
During proceedings yesterday, the prosecutor counsel , Adebayo Haroun informed the court that a plea bargain had been reached between the defendant and the state.
He urged the court to approve the guilty plea as admission of involuntary manslaughter.
Accepting the plea bargain, Justice Ogunsanya said: “The defendant having shown remorse for his actions on the 28 August 2013 along Ladega Junction, Ikorodu, Lagos by negligently firing a bullet at one Olalekan Ajayi, which resulted in his death, hereby pleaded guilty to the offence of involuntary manslaughter contrary to section 222 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
“The defendant is hereby sentenced to six years imprisonment to take effect from the date of his remand in prison custody.”
Justice Ogunsanya, however, turned down a provision of the plea bargain, which recommended that the convict should serve a six-hour community service in the nature of environmental sanitation as part of punishment for his crime.
The judge also turned down the recommendation that Okon should be responsible for payment of the school fees of one of the deceased children from primary to secondary school.
The Sun
