Five suspects, who posed as businessmen,
have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly
abducting and gang-raping a woman. PUNCH Metro learnt that the
suspects – Ugochukwu Eso, Gabriel Obinna, Chinedu Ezechukwu, Akubueze
Nnadozie and Godwin Balogun used a hotel, which the police did not
disclose, in the Agege area of the state.
It was gathered that
18-year-old Obinna allegedly used a Magic Voice application on his
mobile phone to change his voice to that of a woman while communicating
with the victim on the telephone. Using a pseudonym, Vanessa, he allegedly invited her to inspect some non-existent goods in his house.
A police source said the gang’s mode of
operation was to lure female customers into their midst, gang-rape them
and threaten to blackmail the women with video recordings of the rape
unless some money was paid to them.
In the latest incident on Tuesday,
August 2, the gang members allegedly lured their female victim through
telephone calls to their apartment, which was a hotel, before
gang-raping her.
The suspects reportedly demanded N2m to release her, but she later parted with N50,000.
Our correspondent gathered that the
victim reported the matter at the Isokoko Police Division and the Lagos
State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Alausa, after leaving
the hotel. The suspects were, thereafter, trailed to the hotel and arrested.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro while
being paraded at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, on
Wednesday, Eso said his gang collected N20,000 from the lady and she
willingly had sex with him and Obinna.
He said, “The lady came into the hotel to meet another woman. When she saw us, she became nervous. We calmed her down and told her we were just looking for money to eat and she should give us whatever she had.“She gave us N20,000 and we began to talk freely in the room. She used some drugs and willingly had sexual affair with me and Gabriel (Obinna). After the sex, we accompanied her to the taxi and we parted amicably. It was not a rape.”
Obinna said,
“The lady and I had been discussing on the phone; we were friends. I have a Magic Voice application on my phone which I used to discuss with her. We did not rape her. She did not make any noise during the sex; she was just smiling. We were the ones who put her on a bus. Only two of us slept with her.”
The DSVRT Coordinator, Lola-Vivour Adeniyi, said,
“One of the suspects, named Vanessa, chatted with the victim on Instagram. She claimed that she was a graduate and she sold clothes. According to the victim, the fake businesswoman called her from time to time to discuss business with her.“On the day of the incident, the victim came from Oshodi to the address Vanessa gave her in Agege. As she climbed into the house, reportedly owned by Vanessa, three men pushed her into a room and increased the volume of the television so that no one would hear her voice.“After the rape, the suspects said she should provide N2m before she would be released. She called some friends and was able to raise N50,000, which they withdrew from her bank account using the ATM. She was held hostage from 12pm to 7pm.“The DSVRT has directed her to the Mirabel Centre, Ikeja, for a checkup. We worked with the police to ensure the arrest of the suspects and the victim has identified three of them.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai
Owoseni, who paraded the gang, said the police would charge them to
court at the end of investigation.
