Seven youths rapes 24year old trader

Firstclass newsline learnt that seven youths have been accused of
raping a trader inside a plaza in the Alaba Market, Lagos State.
Two of them, ─ Abeeb Busari, 22, and 18-year-old Lawal Gbolahan ─ who
were nabbed and arraigned in court by the police, have been remanded
in custody by an Apapa Magistrate's Court.
Firstclass newsline learnt that the police had launched a manhunt for
the other fleeing offenders while the arrested suspects have owned up
to the crime.
The victim, 24-year-old Bola (pseudonym), sells fairly-used clothes in the area.
It was learnt that the woman was hawking her wares around 4.30pm on
May 27, when Busari, who works as a bricklayer on a construction
project at the market, summoned her under the pretext of buying a
jacket for which he agreed to pay N500.
He reportedly told her to follow him to a room in a plaza at the
market ─ where he had lodged ─ to collect the money for the item.
Busari, it was learnt, was acting on the order of one of his
accomplices, identified as Tunde, who reportedly orchestrated the
crime to punish the victim for an undisclosed offence.
Firstclass newsline was told that on getting to the room, Busari shut
the door and ordered the woman to sit, while Gbolahan and the other
five fugitives jumped down from the roof, where they had hidden. They
allegedly took turns to rape her.
After about 30 minutes, a welder, Idris Lasisi, who reportedly saw the
trader and Busari, traced her to the plaza and barged into the room.
Firstclass newsline learnt that the suspects threatened him with a
dagger when he attempted to raise the alarm.
Busari, who hails from the Ikorodu area of the state, confessed to the
crime, saying it was Tunde, one of the fleeing suspects, who planned
the act.
He said, "I was in the market on the fateful day when I saw Bola
hawking fairly-used clothes. I deceived her that I wanted to buy a
jacket and asked her to follow me upstairs to collect the money. As
soon as she entered my room, I locked the door. Before then, my
friend, Tunde had made arrangement with other five boys to hide inside
the ceiling.
"They jumped down as soon as she came in. It was Tunde, who tore her
panties and threatened her with a dagger. Idris (Lasisi) forcefully
entered while the act was on, but Tunde threatened to stab him if he
shouted. When we were done, I gave her N500 for the jacket, but Tunde
collected it from her."
In his statement, Gbolahan, who is also a bricklayer, said he was in
his house, located around the market when Tunde invited him, adding
that he was forced to rape the woman.
He said, "I was inside my own room, when Tunde called me into the
room, where Bola was kept. He told me she had offended him once and he
wanted to deal with her. He forced me to join in gang-raping her."
It was gathered that Lasisi eventually managed to sneak out of the
room while the men were immersed in the act and alerted traders at the
market, leading to Busari and Gbolahan's arrest by policemen from the
Layeni Police Station.
They were subsequently arraigned before a chief magistrate, Mr. P.A.
Adekomaya, on two counts of rape.
The charges read, "That you, Abeeb Busari, Lawal Gbolahan, and five
others now at large, on May 27, 2015, at about 4.30pm, at Alaba New
Market, Lagos, in the Apapa Magisterial District, did conspire to
commit felony to wit: rape.
"That you and five others at large on the same date, time and place in
the aforesaid magisterial district did unlawfully and forcefully have
the carnal knowledge of one Bola."
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges, which according to a
police prosecutor, ASP Olusoji Ojaokomo, contravene sections 409 and
348 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
Adekomaya ordered that the defendant be remanded in prison and
adjourned the case till July 28, 2015.
Firstclassnewsline.net