Policemen attached to the Orile Police Division in Lagos State have apprehended two gangsters for allegedly raping and killing an 18-year-old commercial sex worker, Oluwatosin Ami. PUNCH Metro reports that the suspects, John-Paul Chukwuebuka, 19; and Ebuka Chimudi, 22; belonged to a gang which specialized in luring young ladies to hotels with the aim of dispossessing them of their belongings and raping them.
According to police authorities, on April 10, 2013, two members of the gang posed as customers and visited the Happy Day Hotel, Orile. Oluwatosin was approached by the suspects and she took them into her room at the hotel which she secured at the cost of N3, 500 per day.The suspects overpowered Oluwatosin and stuffed a cloth in her mouth to prevent her from screaming. She was also bound by the hands, while the suspects took turns in raping her.Afterwards, the suspects stole her phone and money, locked her inside the room, took the key and tossed it into a canal.
A relative of the deceased said the following morning, when the hotel attendants wanted to clean the hotel rooms, they knocked on Oluwatosin's door but there was no response. It was learnt that the attendants then used a spare key to open the door and the corpse of Oluwatosin was found.
Her father, Babatunde, told PUNCH Metro that the matter was reported at the Orile Police Station and his daughter’s corpse was taken to the Mainland Hospital, Yaba. Babatunde said he had no idea that his daughter was a commercial sex worker. He said the family had been looking for her since December last year and had reported her missing at the Adeniji Adele Police Division on the Lagos Island. He said:
“My daughter was in JSS3 in 2012 when she dropped out of school. She said she wanted to be a sales girl and we got a job for her, but she did not stay there. Suddenly, in December last year, she left the house and did not return home. Her mother and I called her on the telephone several times, but she would say she was fine and putting up in a friend’s place. She used to visit her grandmother, but in January, she stopped picking calls. All attempts to get her proved abortive. We did not hear anything from her until we received a telephone call a few days ago, saying her corpse had been found in a hotel.”
The mother of the deceased, Muibat, lamented that Oluwatosin was her third child that would die within five years. She said the deceased was her first born and she had only two children remaining. She said she did her best as a parent and wondered why her daughter chose such a lifestyle.
When Punch correspondent approached the hotel for comment, the employee at the front desk said the management had given instruction that journalists should not be spoken to. However, an employee of the hotel told the police that the rule of the house was that more than two patrons should not be in a room at the same time. The employee said he was not aware that Oluwatosin had taken two people into her room.
The suspects, in their statements, confessed to killing Oluwatosin, but said it was by mistake. They said they only played a minor role in the crime as the prime suspects were still at large. The police explained that 19-year-old Chukwuebuka was arrested by members of the Odua Peoples Congress at City Point Hotel, Apapa, where he had gone to commit a similar crime. Through Chukwuebuka’s confession, Chimudi was arrested. Chukwuebuka identified other suspects as Williams, Victor, Joshua and Kojo. He said:
“We have been doing this thing for a while now. We have operated in brothels in Ajegunle and Kirikiri. I have raped over five girls, but none of them died. We operate in hotels where there is loud music and many rooms. We usually use rooms that are not located on the ground floor so if a victim shouts, no one would hear her.”
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