The Plateau State High Court has sentenced Sgt. Ruya Auta to death by hanging or lethal injection for the culpable homicide of Rinji Peter Bala, a 300-level University of Jos student who was shot dead in May 2020.
Delivering judgment on Tuesday at High Court 1 in Jos, the Chief Justice of Plateau State, Justice David Mann, found the police officer guilty after a protracted trial.
The incident occurred on May 12, 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown. Rinji Bala, then 20, was strolling with two friends near Hwolshe, Jos, when they were accosted and detained by a police patrol team led by Sgt. Auta.
Court records showed that the young men were searched, severely beaten, and found with nothing incriminating.
They were subsequently ordered to run away, and as they fled, Sgt. Auta opened fire, shooting Rinji Bala in the back. He died instantly.
In his ruling, Justice Mann held that the prosecution, led by the state Ministry of Justice, proved beyond reasonable doubt that the killing was intentional and unlawful.
“The action of the convict was a gross abuse of power and a blatant violation of the right to life,” the judge stated, stressing that the sentence was necessary to reinforce accountability within law enforcement and deter extrajudicial killings.
Reacting to the verdict, Peter Bala, father of the deceased, welcomed the judgment but said no one rejoices over another person’s death.
“The truth is the law is the law; that is all I can say,” he told reporters outside the courtroom. “I hope this will serve as a strong warning to security operatives who take human lives carelessly.”
The case, which lasted over five years, had generated widespread public outrage and highlighted concerns over police brutality in Nigeria, especially during the enforcement of the 2020 COVID-19 restrictions.Sgt. Auta has the right to appeal the judgment.
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