Hit-and-run driver, suspected killer of senior policeman arrested in Ondo

Ondo Police Command has paraded driver, Godson Tender James, who crushed a policeman to death at a checkpoint along the Benin-Owo expressway at the Ifon area of Ose Local Government Area of the State.

The hit-and-run driver, James was however, identified as a serial fraudster who hit and  killed the senior policeman on duty while trying to escape from the State after defrauding a businesswoman in Akure, the state capital.

But while speaking,  the suspect explained that he hit the policeman at the checkpoint thinking he was one of the kidnappers tormenting motorists on the road.

 

According to him, the police officer was hit while trying to escape being shot by kidnappers operating on that axis of the road, saying the area is regarded as the hotbed of kidnappers.

James said “As I was going, I started hearing different things about a kidnapper driving a black Tundra. I stopped at a checkpoint where they asked if I was the kidnapper they were looking for and I told them I am not a kidnapper and I was left alone.

“All of a sudden, as I was going, I saw some people wearing police uniforms with one of them bending over on the road. As I tried to maneuver, I heard a gunshot hit my car from the front.

Believing the police cannot just shoot at me, I believe they were robbers and maneuvered to come out at another location. That was when I hit one of them. I was trying to save my own life when I hit the person.

“When I packed, I saw that my radiator was affected by the gunshots. Trailer drivers passing by told me kidnappers were coming and I drove off. The military uniform they claimed to have seen in my car was just a seat jacket.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Funmi Odunlami,  however, said that the suspect was running away from the state after defrauding some people while policemen along the route were alerted.

She explained that the police officer was hit by the suspect while trying to stop him, killing the policeman who was the leader of a team manning a checkpoint along the notorious Ifon-Benin road.

The PPRO stated that: “a woman, Oshodi Mubowale reported at Police Scorpion office Akure that on the 21 of July 2023 unknown man (six) with an unregistered Ford Jeep came to her shop at No 1 Omolere shopping complex Adesida market Akure through One Thomas Toyin aged 48years and Omonigba Kehinde aged 47 years both traders in the same complex.

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“The said man requested he needed a cash sum of N6m  Six million naira but he was able to get a cash sum of N4m from her, with a promise to send the money back through bank transfer but failed to do so.

“However, the complainant later called him and he kept giving excuses and she was able to trace him to a hotel, but the said man escaped while they pursued him to a point.

“He was later arrested by officers of the 4th Brigade Headquarters, Sobe in Edo. The suspect Godson Tender James aged 47 was handed over to the police with the sum of N1.515m by the Military.”

Odunlami, however, said the suspect will be charged to court for the murder of a police officer.