SARS officer sentenced to death for killing boy and stealing his N300k

A State High Court in Benin City, Edo Sate, on Friday, Feb 12, sentenced a police constable, Joseph Omotosho, to death 

for conspiring with four other constables, who are currently at large, to kill a car dealer in 2015.

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The slain car dealer, Benson Obodeh, 26, was suspected by the police to belong to a criminal gangwho allegedly stole a Peugeot car in Lagos.

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He was said to have been arrested at his home in Benin City on May 21, 2015, and tortured to death the same day by the five police officers.

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His corpse was dumped at the Specialist Hospital in Benin City, with a different name by one of the officers that killed him.

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Mr Obodeh’s family wrote a petition to the inspector-general of police where they demanded an investigation, after searching for several weeks without finding him.

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The police, it was learnt, tried at several times to frustrate the family from discovering details of the murder, but for the intervention of Solomon Arase, who was the inspector-general of police at the time.

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After an orderly room trial by the police authorities, the five officers were found liable and dismissed from the service to face court trial.

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Joseph Omotosho, who was dismissed from the Nigerian police after the murder of Benson Obedeh, served with the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a police unit that was notorious for its brutality and other forms of human rights abuses.

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He was sentenced to death as he was the only defendant in court.

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The four other dismissed constables were also convicted but not sentenced because they were not present in the court.

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They were identified as Adeleke Adedeji, Abena John, Oniyo Musa, and Henry Shobowole.

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The four were said to have escaped while on trial from one of the Medium Security Correctional Centres in Benin City during the October, 2020, jailbreaks.

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The judge, Ohimai Ovbiagele, found all the accused persons guilty on an eight-count charge, which included conspiracy to steal and murder.

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“The fifth defendant, Joseph Omotosho, is sentenced to death by hanging or with chemical infusion as an alternative on conspiracy to commit murder.