Anger rages in Alimosho as 13-year-old girl is raped, hospitalised

Less than a week after the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Adamu Mohammad, vowed to apprehend the fleeing suspects that gang-raped and murdered 12-year-old Favour Ikechukwu at the Ejigbo area of Lagos, another minor, a 13-year-old JSS 3 student (name withheld), was raped and is currently in a critical condition at the hospital.

The rape, which has elicited wild condemnation from residents, was carried out on Tuesday, October 6, at a hotel in Oremeji Street, off Isuti Road, Egan, Igando.

It was gathered that some angry residents had marched to Igando Police Station to register their displeasure over what they tagged ‘a despicable act to a minor’.

They were said to have praised the resilience of the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Taiwo Kasumu, and his operatives, whose prompt response led to the arrest of the kingpin identified as Toheeb Mustapha, a.k.a. ‘Sir Small.’

The victim, residing in the same street where the hotel is located, was lured by the gang into the hotel unnoticed by the management, and it was gathered that residents have appealed to police authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the crime and alleged nefarious activities going on in the hotel.

Investigation revealed that one of the fleeing gang members had earlier booked a room in the hotel on Monday, October 5, to prepare the ground for the act. On Tuesday afternoon, while the victim’s mother had gone out in search of daily bread, ‘Sir Small,’ said to be the gang leader, had crept into the victim’s house and lured her into the hotel, where they reportedly took turns in raping her until she started bleeding profusely.

Sensing danger, the gang waited until the night before dumping the victim in front of her house. According to a resident, who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, attack, “when we assisted the police to arrest the fleeing ‘Sir Small,’ he confessed to the crime and denied any use of charms in perpetrating the act.

He claimed he re-established contact with the victim two years after he left secondary school through her phone contact that he collected from the victim’s schoolmate.”

At the Isuti Road Health Centre, where the victim was initially rushed to, due to what a nurse described as ‘excessive bleeding,’ she was seen soaked in her own blood while reeling in pains. She was said to have told her mother that she met ‘Sir Small’ on Facebook before the incident.

According to a hospital source, despite the bleeding and pain, the victim was undergoing, she was stitched in three places before she was transferred to Mirabel Medical Centre in Ikeja last Friday for further investigation and treatment.

Enquiries made through text messages to the state police command spokesman, SP Muyiwa Adejobi, was not responded to yesterday.