A 32-year-old man,
Musa Ismail, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly
raping his neigbour, Joy
(pseudonym) and dispossessing her of property worth
N91,500
It was learnt that
Ismail lived on Kadiri Street, in the Oniwaya, Agege area of the state, while
his gang members ─ Saheed Lawal, Wasiu Ajanaku, and Tayo Inawole ─ resided with
the victim on Okunola Street, near Kadiri Street.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the hoodlums gained access to Joy’s
apartment around 2am on December 26 after breaking the window, robbing her of
three phones valued at N43,500 and a cash sum of N48,000.
Done with the
operation, Ismail reportedly brought out a knife and ordered Joy, said to be in
her mid 20s, to lie down. He was said to have raped her before he fled the
building with his gang.
Our correpondent
learnt that the robbers had converged on the back of the woman’s window earlier
in the evening of the fateful day, smoking cannabis.
She was said to
have condemned the act and sent the smokers away, warning them not to gather
there again. They were reportedly angered by the jibe and vowed to deal with
her.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Joy was able to identify Ismail during
the robbery and reported the incident at the Dopemu Police Division, leading to
the suspects’ arrest.
A police source
told our correspondent that Joy was directed to the Mirabel Centre, which
attends to rape victims, adding that a medical test conducted on her confirmed
that she was raped.
“The suspects are
neighbours of the woman. They had an altercation after she warned them to stop
smoking cannabis at the back of her apartment. It was in the night of that day
that they burgled her room and one of them raped her,” the source added.
When PUNCH
Metro visited the community on Wednesday, Joy was said to have moved out
of the house.
A resident, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, said the gang specifically targeted Joy in the
operation as she was the only person robbed that night.
Meanwhile, the
suspects were arraigned before an Ogba Magistrates’ Court on three counts
bordering on burglary and stealing. Ismail, in addition to the counts, was
charged with rape.
The charges read
in part, “That you, Musa Ismail, Saheed Lawal, Wasiu Ajanaku and Tayo Inawole,
on December 26, 2015, at about 2am on Okunola Street, Oniwaya, Agege, in the
Lagos Magisterial District, did break into the room of one Joy and stole one
BlackBerry phone valued at N25,000, a Techno handset worth N15,000, one Nokia
phone valued at N3,500 and a cash sum of N48,000.”
The accused,
however, pleaded not guilty to the offences.
The magistrate,
Mrs. T. Akanni, admitted Ajanaku, Inawole and Lawal to bail in the sum of
N200,000, while Ismail was granted bail in the sum of N250,000 with two
sureties each in like sum.
The case was
adjourned till January 25, 2016.
Source: Punch Newspaper.
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