By John Ikani
Bayelsa State High Court 2 sitting in Yenagoa, the state capital, has sentenced a Police Sergeant, Timade Emmanuel to death by hanging for the extrajudicial killing of a teenage student, Tarila Nikade in 2019.
Nikade was an undergraduate student of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) and was on a 4.42 CGPA before he was killed.
Bayelsa State High Court 2 presided over by Justice Margaret Ayemieye in a two –count charge of conspiracy to commit murder and murder, declared that the prosecution proved that Emmanuel shot the deceased in the back in cold blood.
In her judgment, Justice M.A. Ayemieye, said Emmanuel, who has since been dismissed by the Force, was found guilty of killing Nikade along Tenacious Road in Akenfa, Yenagoa area.
The human rights committee of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) which formed part of the prosecution team had presented three witnesses to secure the conviction of Emmanuel.
A member of the NBA National Public Interest Litigation Committee, Wisdom Meni Adike who spoke after the conviction of Emmanuel, explained that the prosecution of the killer policeman lasted for two years despite the initial attempts by some senior policemen from the State Police Command to frustrate his prosecution and conviction.
He disclosed that in 2019, the Human Right Committee of NBA Sagbama through the then chairman, Dise Sheila Ogbise and the incumbent Chairman, George Ebinyu Aderigha, ensured that diligent investigation was conducted over the death of Nikade.
He said the NBA Sagbama branch conducted a high level investigation and pursued the case to its logical conclusion.
Adike described the verdict as a victory to all who worked in truth for the true attainment of justice.
