Three young men are currently cooling their heels in one of the dreaded cells of the State criminal Investigation Department, (SCID) Yaba, Panti for allegedly gang raping a 16-year-old virgin (names withheld) in Orile area of Lagos while on her way from school. The suspects identified as Sunday Simeon, 18, from Akwa Ibom state; Adebayo Omoniyi 18, from Ondo state; Nnaemeka Uzodinma 24, from Imo state and Seyi (surname unknown) who is currently on the run attacked, abducted and gang raped the victim who is a JSS 3 student on June 23, 2015.
Vanguard learnt that the suspects attacked the victim after one of the suspects, Adebayo took the victim’s phone around Arikeuyo junction while returning from school at Orile. It was gathered that while the victim was struggling with Adebayo, his partners-in-crime dragged her into a tricycle and rode her to no 15 Unity Close in Orile Iganmu. When they got there, they took off her school uniform and raped her one after the other starting from Adebayo.
Vanguard gathered that after successfully raping the victim, one of the suspects Adebayo suggested to the other gang members that they kill the victim and throw her corpse into the canal so that she won’t expose them. But another member of the gang, Seyi pleaded with them to be cautious with Adebayo’s advice, and instead adviced his colleagues to threaten the victim rather than kill her. Hearkening to Seyi’s advice, the suspects threatened to kill her with a cutlass if she ever mentioned to anyone what they did to her or that they gang raped her.
Later, they collected her phone number and rode her back to Alako area in Orile while Sunday gave her N100 to board a commercial vehicle home. According to a source close to the family who spoke to Vanguard on the condition of anonymity: “when the victim came back from school, it was obvious that something was wrong as she was walking with difficulty, her uniform torn, she was bleeding because she sustained severe bruises all over her vagina”.
“Her parents who saw her torn uniform and noticed the way she walked, asked what had happened to her and she told them how she was attacked by four men who raped her on her way back from school. Immediately, her father took her to Orile Divisional Police station to report the incidence. Fortunately, while she was at the station with her father, the suspects kept calling and threatening to kill her if she told anyone what they did to her”.
Meanwhile the victim was taken to Ifelodun Ajeromi Government Hospital where she received treatment after a series of tests were carried out on her which confirmed that she has been sexually abused. It was learnt that the police advised her to lure the suspects who were calling and threatening her by telling them that she was coming to see them again after school the next day. Unknown to them that it was a trap and that her parents had notified the police, they bought the idea.
At the agreed time, she went there with the detectives who succeeded in arresting one of the suspect’s ,Nnaemeka Uzodinma. His arrest eventually led to the arrest of two others. It was gathered that the victim’s blood stained pant and the cutlass which was used to threaten her have been recovered from the suspects' one-room apartment in Orile. The suspects who are currently being investigated at the State Criminal Investigation Department, yaba, Panti would soon be arraigned in court.
