The police in Oyo State have arrested a man alleged to be a serial rapist, Gbolahan Ismaila (20), who allegedly killed one of his victims, Toyin Olubowale (35) at her house in Akobo area of Ibadan on August 29.
Speaking while parading the suspect and his accomplices at the police headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, the Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu, said on September 9, at about 3:30 p.m, the murder of the victim was reported at the Akobo Police Headquarters, and the case was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, for investigation.
The police boss, while narrating how the incident occurred, said the suspect, Ismaila, on the said day, at about 2:00 p.m, had boarded a commercial motorcycle ridden by one Joel Musa to the residence of the woman at Ogidi Estate in Akobo.
“When he got there, he asked the okada rider to wait for him and he entered the house.
“It was while in the house that he sexually assaulted the woman and then smashed her head with a wooden stool, which led to her death.
“All the while, the okada rider was outside, so when the suspect was done, he went out and the okada rider took him back to Oju Irin area, also in Akobo.
“However, when the suspect wanted to pay, the okada rider noticed a wound and blood stains on his right hand, because while trying to rape the woman, she bit him on the hand.
“The okada rider, after dropping him, then went back to the house to ascertain what actually happened, but on getting there, he found people crying over the death of the woman.
“He, thereafter, informed the people that he knew the suspect, as he had brought him to the house earlier. So the okada rider was arrested and handed over to the police.
“His arrest then led to the apprehension of the principal suspect, Ismaila.
“Two other suspects were also arrested, Oyesiji Blessing (22), who bought the victim’s phone from Ismaila, and Oyekola Mumini, a mobile phone repairer, who Blessing had taken the phone to to help him format and repair,” Olukolu said.
However, while speaking with Saturday Tribune, the suspect, Ismaila, said he had been trying to woo the woman for a while but she had remained adamant.
“I was trying to woo her but she was not agreeing to my advances. I didn’t plan to kill her; I only went to her house to talk to her again on that day.
“However, when I got to her house, I didnt know what came over me and I decided to rape her.
“It was while she was struggling that she bit me, I then used a stool to hit her head. I didn’t know she will die. I loved her and only wanted to date her,” Ismaila said.
The buyer of the victim’s phone, an Itel A32F, Blessing, said he bought the phone for N5,500 from the suspect, but didn’t know he had killed someone before collecting it.
“Ismaila claimed he saw the phone by the roadside and after I bought it, I took it to Mumini to help me repair. I didn’t suspect anything because the phone was in a terrible state. I was the one who repaired everything,” Blessing said.
The police also arrested some suspected fraudsters, Tajudeen Akintunde, Omojola Adeyanju and Tunde Ganiyu, who collected N15,000 from a boy, Safari Taiwo, who had been sent to deposit money in a bank by his elder sister at Yemetu area.
Olukolu said after hypnotising the boy, the suspects further collected the ATM and withdrew about N93,000, another N50,000 through the POS and another 43,000 from the ATM.
“They told the boy he had spiritual problems and he must drop everything on him in order for them to carry out the cleansing.
