The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Zookeeper airlifted to hospital in Germany after tiger attack

    A zookeeper in Eastern Germany was seriously injured after a tiger attack, a Police Spokesman said yesterday.

    The 19-year-old was airlifted to a hospital for treatment but was not in life-threatening condition, the spokesman said.

    The zoo authorities in the city of Koethen, said that the attack occurred while the keeper was feeding two tigers that had been in the zoo since March 2017, after a circus gave them up due to ill-health.

    The zoo authorities said that the tigers attacked the 19-year-old with their paws through the fencing of their enclosure.

    Police are now investigating whether the enclosure complied with safety regulations.

  • 9-yr-old abducted girl found in Togo reunites with mother

    Barely one year after a Nigerian girl, Irebami, was taken to Togo by her mother’s ex-lover cum herbalist, Kofi Mesan, the girl has been reunited with her mother.

    In reports published on Saturday September 22 and 29 by The Nation, Irebami’s mother, Adebisi Adelowo, claimed that her former boyfriend, Mesan, abducted her daughter, and relocated her to Togo.

    Adebisi, also disclosed that Mesan was not Irebami’s biological father.

    According to the woman, Mesan,  who lives in Isheri-Olofin area of Alimosho Local Government, allegedly tricked her into releasing her daughter to him with a promise  to help her enrol the girl in school.

    She claimed that her daughter’s father was one Toyin Awolere, a spare parts dealer at Ladipo Market, Mushin, Lagos.

    She said that Awolere proposed to her in 2007, and their relationship resulted in  pregnancy.

    Adebisi said Awolere abandoned her shortly after her mother died of a strange illness.

    She said she was introduced to Mesan in the course of searching for a solution to her mother’s mysterious illness.

    She added that Mesan took advantage of her crashed marriage to lure her into a relationship, after his marriage to another woman crashed.

    Mesan, in a telephone conversation told The Nation that he was Irebami’s biological father. He alleged that the girl’s mother bolted after he impregnated her.

    The story however changed after Mesan was arrested by men of Ikotun Police Division, where he was said to have confessed during interrogation that he was not the girl’s real father.

    He was ordered by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the station to produce the girl or risk prosecution for abduction.

    Mesan returned the girl on Monday and took her to the station, where the girl was handed over to her mother.

    Adebisi, who paid a thank you visit to The Nation office with Irebami, thanked the paper’s management for publishing her plight leading to the return of her daughter.

    ‘’ I cannot thank The Nation enough for projecting my plight to the world which eventually led to Mesan’a arrest and interrogation by the police. If not for the stories you published about my daughter’s abduction and relocation to Togo by my former lover(Mesan), she would not have been found and returned to Nigeria.

    She pleaded for financial assistance from kind hearted Nigerians to fund her daughter’s education.

    ‘’I have been squatting with an acquaintance in the Ifo area of Ogun State, and it might be inconvenient for my host to accommodate me with my daughter. I am appealing to the public for financial assistance to give my daughter good education and secure better accommodation.’’

    Donations can be forwarded to her via a Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) account number- 0429111708 opened in her name. She can also be reached on 08105385861

     

  • Unidentified persons kill 18 year-old in Akure

    Unidentified persons have reportedly killed a girl identified as Oluwaseun Ajila in Ijoka area of Akure, the Ondo State capital on Thursday evening.

    Sources said the 18-year-old deceased was stabbed to death by her assailants.

    It was learnt that the girl’s mother , Mrs. Yemisi Ajayi, raised the alarm over the incident when she returned from work on the fateful day.

    A source said: “The mother of the deceased returned from work, and met her daughter’s lifeless body on the floor in a pool of blood.  She immediately called the attention of the neighbours to it.

    “ There were wounds on her body which indicated that someone must have fought with her inside the room and stabbed her to death. “

    The police have since arrested Oluwaseun’s boyfriend, Ebenezer Adedimola, over the incident.

    Confirming  the incident, police spokesman, Femi Joseph, said the late girl’s mother reported the matter to the police.

    He said: “The bereaved mother suspected her daughter’s boyfriend, because he had a misunderstanding with the girl recently.”

    He added that investigation  had commenced on the incident, and that perpetrators would be brought to book.

     

  • Court sentences ex-policeman to death for extra-judicial killing

    A Bayelsa State High Court sitting in Yenagoa has sentenced a former policeman, Corporal Vincent Koluama-Owei to death by hanging for extra-judicial killing of a 17-year-old, Innocent Kokorifa.

    Kokorifa, who was running an errand for his mother, was shot dead on 18 August, 2016, near the Air Force Base, Okaka, Yenagoa, by a patrol team of the police, who labeled him a bandit.

    Koluama-Owei identified as the policeman, who fired the gunshot that killed the minor, has been standing trial for murder at the state high court 7 presided over by Justice Ineikade Eradiri.

    Members of the civil society group, Chief Nengi James, Alagoa Morris and Aluzu Ebi Augustine, who brought the matter to the limelight, turned up on Friday to listen to the judgment.

    Eradiri in his judgment that lasted two hours weighed the defence of the accused person against the evidence and witnesses of the prosecution lawyer and ruled that the prosecution proved his case beyond every reasonable doubts.

    The judge faulted the claims of self defence relied upon by the accused person in line with Section 33(2b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

    The judge said: “Human life is sacrosanct and as such a person can only deprive another only as a last and final resort. Only God Almighty created life and can take it away. Anyone who takes the life of another under circumstances not as permitted by law arrogates unto himself the driven power of the almighty and must answer here on earth and also in heaven.”

    The judge cited judicial decisions in cases of Ibukunle vs the state 2007, Ola vs the state 2014; Garba vs State; Adegboye vs State 2017, among others and concluded that the provision of self-defence would not benefit the accused person.

    He said: “In the circumstances of this case, section 33(2) of the 1999 Constitution does not avail the appellant. The firing of the gun at the back of the deceased to prevent him from escaping from a lawful arrest was not reasonable in the circumstance.

    “Someone has made a report to the police saying that hoodlums suspected to be armed robbers were operating openly under a broad daylight in a residential area, the next thing that happened was that the police went there, cordoned off the area and shot someone, who was not even running but walking away.

    “The police did not do any serious observation as to confirm the report which they received. There was also no evidence whatsoever that the armed robbers were actually in operation. There was also no evidence that any of the so-called armed robbers was arrested after the killing of the deceased.

    “There was even evidence that after the deceased had been shot, he stood up and walked to the accused demanding to know why the accused shot him. And shortly afterwards, he slumped to the ground and died. The fact that the deceased walked across the narrow street, after he had been shot by the accused was not denied by the accused.”

     

     

     

  • Family condemns attack on farmer by suspected cultists

    The family of a man, Adeolu Samuel Otubushin, in Iperu Remo area of Ogun State has condemned persistent attacks on him by suspected cultists, following his refusal to join the group.

    Tracing the genesis of the attacks, the family spokesman, Adekanmi Zacheus said Adeolu’s refusal to join the local cult group was based on his Christian background and belief.

    The family stated that Adeolu, who used to run a relatively flourishing farm in the GRA area of Ijebu Ode, relocated to Lagos, from where he fled into hiding after the fiendish group set his farm ablaze and placed fetish objects in the farm house.

    ‘’ He earned his first and second degrees from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta,(FUNNAB) and Olabisi Onabanjo University(OOU), both in Ogun State, and thereafter established a flourishing farm in Ijebu Ode. A few years ago, some people who claimed to be members of Ogboni secret society said he was chosen by their oracle and they tried fruitlessly to initiate him into their cult group, citing his royal blood as the reason.

    ‘’The matter assumed a dangerous when the dreaded cult group  visited his house in Ijebu Ode and left a fetish object there with a note asking him to bring the item to the venue of their meeting for initiation or risk their wrath.’’

    Zacheus explained further that Adeolu escaped a kidnap attempt in 2006, during which the cultists had planned to take him to their grove and subject him to a forcible initiation.

    ‘’While he was returning from a church programme in August 2006, the cultists attacked him and tried to abduct him for a forcible initiation but he escaped unhurt. They repeated same thing twice in 2013, by setting fire to his barn at his farm and attempted to kidnap him on his wedding day after he was trailed to the church where the ceremony took place. All these attacks on him were reported to the police but nothing came out of it.’’

    ‘’Few weeks ago, the group accosted a member of our family, called Adejuwon, from whom they demanded to know Adeolu’s whereabouts. When they did not get any favourable response from Adejuwon, they told him that they would deal with Adeolu whenever they set their eyes on him. As a responsible family, we do not want to dismiss their threats as empty, hence, we are crying out through the media.’’

     

  • Police arrest couple, others with human skulls

    Kwara police command yesterday paraded a couple and three others for allegedly being in possession of 11 human skulls and several human bones.

    Addressing reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, the Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Fafowora said eight of the human heads found at the home of the suspects were already dried while the remaining three were fresh.  Detectives also found suspected human hair in possession of the suspects.

    He listed the suspects as Azeez Yakubu,  Salima Azeez,  Isiah Wasiu,  Abubakar Isiaka and Soliu  Yakubu. The chief suspect,  Yakubu is 37-year old and works as a commercial driver.

    The police boss said: “Acting on intelligence available to the command about suspected ritual killings around Adewole area of Ilorin by some ritualists,  detectives from the police command swooped on a building located at No. 20, Ile-Opa area of Aromadu,  Adewole and one Yakubu Azeez and four other suspects were rounded up,  a search was conducted in the building and 11 human skulls,  several suspected human bones,  a bunch of suspected human hair and other items were recovered. “

  • Two ex-convicts bag 4-yr jail term for burglary, stealing

    An Ado-Ekiti Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday sentenced one Philip Michael (20) and Sunday Oluwasola (23) to 4-years imprisonment over alleged burglary and stealing.ý

    The defendants of no fixed address  are standing trial on a two-count charge of burglary and stealing.ý

    The prosecutor, Inspector Oriyomi Akinwale, told the court that, the accused and others at large committed the ýoffence on September 24, at Abekoko in Ado-Ekiti.

    He alleged that the defendants broke into the apartment of the complainant, Mr Akinwande Kayode.

    He also alleged that the defendants and others at large stole his plasma television valued at N250,000, six wristwatch valued at N60,000, gold jewelry and phone valued at N150,000.

    Akinwale said the offences contravened Section 516 and 411 of the Criminal Code, Law of Ekiti State 2012.

    The prosecutor furnished the court with the previous antecedent of the defendants as ex-convicts.

    The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges.

    The presiding magistrate, Mrs Modupe Afeniforo, sentenced each of the defendants to four  years imprisonment to run concurrently without an option of fine.

     

  • Prison service dismisses 3 officers for trafficking Indian hemp

    The Controller General of the Nigeria Prisons Service (NPS), Ja’afaru Ahmed yesterday  approved the dismissal of three junior prison officers for allegedly smuggling prohibited items capable of compromising security into the prison yard.

    Dismissed were  IP Samaila Inusa;  PA 11 Jonathan Ibrahim and PA 11 Adamu Jethro.

    Their dismissal followed the recommendation of the Zonal Disciplinary Committee that found the officers guilty of smuggling illicit items such as Indian hemp (cannabis) and other intoxicants into the prison for inmates.

    According to a statement issued by the NPS’ spokesman, Francis Enobore: “the Controller General has resolved to ensure that proven cases of indiscipline against any personnel particularly on offences that are capable of causing security breach, are promptly meted with appropriate sanctions according to law.

    “While this action is to serve as a deterrent to would be incorrigible individuals, the Prisons boss further warned that stiffer punishment awaits anyone found guilty of compromising standards and good conduct expected of a Correction Officer.”

  • Police quiz herbalist over ‘abducted’ 9-yr-old Nigerian girl’s relocation to Togo

    Men of Ikotun Police Division,Lagos, on Tuesday interrogated a Lagos –based herbalist, Kofi Mesan, for allegedly abducting a 9-year-old daughter of his lover, Adebisi Adelowo.

    In a report published last Saturday by The Nation, Adelowo, a mother of four accused her former boyfriend, Mesan, of abducting her eight-year-old daughter, Irebami, and relocating her to Togo.

    Adebisi, also disclosed that Mesan was not Irebami’s biological father.

    According to the woman, Mesan,  who lives in Isheri-Olofin area of Alimosho Local Government, allegedly tricked her into releasing her daughter to him with a promise  to help her enrol the girl in school.

    She claimed that her daughter’s father was one Toyin Awolere, a spare parts dealer at Ladipo Market, Mushin, Lagos.

    She said that Awolere proposed to her in 2007, and their relationship resulted in  pregnancy.

    Adebisi said Awolere abandoned her shortly after her mother died of a strange illness.

    She said she was introduced to Mesan in the course of searching for a solution to her mother’s mysterious illness.

    She added that Mesan took advantage of her crashed marriage to lure her into a relationship, after his marriage to another woman crashed.

    Mesan, however, allegedly relocated her daughter to Togo, without her consent.

    It was learnt that during his interrogation, Mesan, who earlier told The Nation that he was the father of the girl, admitted not being her father at the station.

    It was learnt that Mesan was asked to write an undertaking that he would produce the girl on Monday October 1.

    A police source told our reporter that Mesan was asked to produce the girl by Monday, or risk prosecution.

    ‘’He did not claim to be the father of the girl during interrogation. The girl’s mother was his live –in- lover, but their relationship became frosty and they went their separate ways.

    ‘’The police have intervened and the man has promised to return the child on Monday.’’

  • Man docked for burying wife on another man’s land

    A 56- year-old man, Oluwafemi Adebisi, on Wednesday appeared before the Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ilupeju-Ekiti for allegedly, forcibly burying his  wife on a land belonging to one Lucas Oguntuyi.

    Adebisi, according to the police prosecutor, Seargent Matthew Omale, sometime in 2008 on Ire Road, Osin-Ekiti, unlawfully buried his  wife, Oke, on Oguntuyi’s property.

    He was arraigned on a three-count charge bordering on defamation, unlawful burial and breach of peace.

    The charge sheet reads in part: “That you, Oluwafemi Adebisi,(m) of 3, Ode Omo Street Osin-Ekiti sometimes, 2008 along Ire Road,Osin-Ekiti did unlawfully and forcibly bury your late wife named Oke Adebisi on the land of one Lucas Oguntuyi, (m) at 27, Isade Street, Osin-Ekiti.’’

    According to the prosecutor, the offences committed contravened Sections: 81, 373 and 249(D) of the Criminal Code Vol., 1 Cap C16 Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

    He thereafter prayed the court for an adjournment to enable him properly prepare for the matter.

    Earlier, the defendant, who was represented by his counsel, Chief David Fajemila, pleaded not guilty to the three- count charge when the court read it  to him.

    His counsel prayed the court to grant bail in favour of his client, adding that the defendant would not jump bail and a  reliable surety would be provided.

    The presiding Chief Magistrate, Mr Joseph Ayodele, granted bail to the defendant in the sum of N100,000 and one surety in like sum.

    He then adjourned the case to October 15 for hearing.