Police officer sentenced to death by hanging for killing a sachet water dealer

A Police Inspector identified as Samuel Timothy was today
sentenced to death by hanging by a Rivers state High Court
for shooting and killing a sachet water dealer, Onyekachi
Nwasouba at No. 34, Old Aba Road, Port Harcourt on
November 10th 2010.
According to court documents, the deceased who is a
graduate of Industrial Chemistry was wrongfully shot at and
killed by a team of police officers led by Inspector Timothy
after they wrongfully branded the deceased an armed
robber.
They shot at him despite his repeated plea that he was not
an armed robber but only a sachet water dealer. In a three
hours ruling, the trial judge, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, said
that the convict (Timothy) demonstrated an act of
inhumanity through his action.
He said the testimonies given by witnesses at the scene of
the incident, pointed to the fact that Timothy was an
“Inhuman, trigger-happy policeman, who engages in
murder; a hater of humankind and a merciless killer.”
“According to Section 319 of the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, I do not have the power to reduce your
sentence. That, you, Inspector Timothy Sampson be hanged
on your neck until you are dead,” he said. Timothy who had
served in the Nigeria Police for 33 years was due for
retirement in the next two years when this incident
happened.