The police
in Ekiti State have arrested three persons in connection with a robbery
attack on a retired United States Naval officer, Mrs. Titilope
Ayeni-Are.
The woman
had just arrived Nigeria from the US after being away for over 12 years.
She was due to resume
her new role as a lecturer in one of the tertiary
institutions in the state when the incident occurred.
The first
robbery attack occurred on Sunday, August 9 when burglars invaded her
residence at Charity Street, behind Petim Sawmill, Adehun, Ado Ekiti,
the state capital,while she was away in church between 9.15 am and
1.45pm. Before her arrival, valuable items including three laptops, two
DVD players, three mobile phones and a modem had been stolen.
Policemen recovered a bunch of keys with which the robbers gained access into the house.
Three days
later, when she visited the Ado Ekiti office of Etisalat to retrieve
her stolen line, she was told the line was still being used, which
prompted her request for the call log.
Investigation
revealed that the most frequent caller of the line was one Funke
Adenowo, a cleaner at First Bank, Opopogboro Branch, suspected to be the
girlfriend of one of the burglars.
Following
investigations, police later arrested two brothers, Bode and Wale
Fakorede as well as one Segun, who came from Ibadan to buy two of the
three stolen laptops.
Wale and Bode were granted bail after they were arraigned before an Ado Ekiti Magistrate’s Court.
After
their bail, Wale reportedly led another robbery attack on the house on
November 24, where he attacked Ayeni-Are with a machete. The suspect was
said to have attempted to rape her also before police intervention.
She said,
“My five-year-old son was with me at the time. Wale, who led the other
gang members I could not identify, told me to look at him very well. He
said he planned to kill me. I was left in the pool of my blood, after
which he went to ransack the bedrooms.
“He went
back to switch on the generator and asked about where I kept money, my
ATM card and PIN number. He asked about my husband and I told him that
he was in America. He asked from my son where his father was and my son
told him that his dad is in America.
“He asked
for my car keys, particularly that of a Pathfinder SUV, I told him that I
didn’t have any such vehicle. He asked about the three laptops, which
were earlier stolen, I replied that I had given them out. He then
removed my necklace.
“He asked
me if I knew where they sent him after the first attack, I told him that
it was the court that sent him there. He said that throughout the time,
he never had the opportunity of enjoying sex and that it was now an
opportunity to do it with me.
“The other
accomplice, whom he came with, kicked against what he intended to do
but he threatened him. He said he would do it right in front of my son
for him (my son) to see the action.
“He
ordered me to go back to the bedroom and unzipped his trousers and it
was in that process that my phone rang. He dragged me out of the house
to the back door and dragged me to a well. He attempted to throw me
inside the well.
“When I
fell off the well, he pinned me to the wall and in the course of the
struggle, a rope and the cloth with which he gagged me removed and I
screamed ‘O ti pa mi o, oti pa mi o’ (He has killed me, he has killed me).
“I ran towards the gate but unknown to me, my neighbours had already called the police.”
The suspects were later arrested.
When
contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Alberto
Adeyemi, said the Department of Criminal Investigations in the state,
had swung into action and started an investigation into the case.
Adeyemi
said, “Yes, I am aware of the case. We are still investigating the
incident and it is being handled by the DCI after the case was
transferred from the Oke-Ila Police Station which conducted preliminary
investigations.
“The investigation is still ongoing and when we conclude our investigation, the suspects involved will be charged to court.”
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