An undergraduate of the University of
Lagos, on Tuesday, explained to a Lagos
State Special Offences Court in Ikeja, how
eight undergraduates of the same
institution allegedly gang-raped and
blackmailed her with the video footage of
the s*xual assault.
The 19-year-old gave an account of the
incident while giving evidence during the
trial of some of the suspects.
Five of the suspects, Moboluwaji Omowole,
19; Chuka Chukwu, 19; Peace Nwankaba,
19; James Aguedu, 20; and Osemeka
Josephine, 20, were arraigned on Tuesday
on three counts of defilement of a child,
permitting the defilement of a child on a
premises and procuration (inducing any
minor girl under the age of 18 to go from
any place or to do any act with intent that
such a girl may be, or knowing that it is
likely that she will be, forced or seduced to
illicit intercourse with another person).
Other students, who are alleged
accomplices to the crime, are still at large.
According to the prosecutor, K. A. Momoh-
Ayokanbi, the defendants and others at
large committed the offences in January
2017 on the premises of UNILAG, Akoka,
Yaba, Lagos.
The offences, according to Momoh-
Ayokanbi, contravene sections 137, 138
and 140(1) (a) of the Criminal Law of
Lagos, 2015.
The victim, who was 17-year-old at the
time of the incident, on Tuesday, told the
court that she became friends with
Nwankaba, who was her roommate when
she moved into the school’s hostel during
the 2016/2017 academic session, adding
that Nwankaba lured her to be gang-raped.
She said, “I had three roommates, including
Nwankaba. During the course of being in the
room, Peace and I became friends; she even
introduced me to her parents on our
matriculation day in January 2017.
“One day, around noon, Peace called me on
the phone and asked if I was around and if
I wanted to hang out with a boy called
Yinka (now at large) at the High Rise,
which is a staff quarter in UNILAG; but at
that time, I did not know what High Rise
was; I told her and she said it was a hostel
where people stayed.
“I told her I was not sure about hanging
out and that I would think about it; she cut
the line and called me again within the
space of five minutes, but this time, it was
Yinka, who was talking to me. He told me
that it was supposed to be a hangout and
Peace would be there; at that point, I
agreed and since I didn’t know where the
High Rise was, Yinka and Peace told me to
meet them at the Jaja Hall, a male hostel
in UNILAG.
“When I got there, I only met Yinka, who
was with James, and I asked after Peace,
but he told me that she was at the High
Rise.
“When I got to the High Rise, I was led into
a small building behind the High Rise,
where I met Seriki (now at large) and a
group of boys, but was assured by Yinka
that Peace would come.
“James led me up the flights of stairs and
we got into a room; there were boys on the
corridor. I entered into the room with Seriki
and James, but Yinka stayed outside; when
I got into the room, I met two boys and a
girl; the boys were Emmanuel (at large), I
cannot remember the name of the second
boy, and Josephine.
“When James and Seriki entered the room,
Josephine and the two boys left and at
that point, it was clear to me that Peace
was not in the High Rise. Yinka then asked
me to have s*x with him, I said no but he
forcefully removed my clothes; at this
point, two other people, who were peering
into the room, entered and held me down
while Yinka forcefully had s*x with me.
“In no particular order, the following took
their turns: Daniel, James, Yinka, Bolu (first
defendant), Seriki, Emmanuel and two other
people, whose names I don’t know. They
were eight men.â€
The victim further told the court that she
was subjected to further s*xual assault by
some of the defendants and their
accomplices following the alleged gang
rape.
She added, “When they were molesting me,
there was a guy, who was sitting down
making a video recording of all that was
happening on a phone. My first instinct was
to get the phone from him but I was
outnumbered. At the point when they were
leaving, they led me outside the building and
they told me that they had a footage of what
happened.
“They said if I didn’t want to be popular in
school, I had to answer them anytime they
wanted to have s*x. They collected my
number and shared it among themselves.â€
She further told the court that because she
did not know how to handle the situation,
she kept everything that happened to
herself, as she was scared that she would
get into trouble because of the video.
The victim added that on two other
occasions, she was subjected to more gang
rape by members of the group, who now
included Simi, Randy, Idowu and Eddy (all
at large), noting that the assault occurred
at Chukwu’s parents house at the Pako
area of Yaba.
She added, “I started hearing stories and the
narrative was as though I wanted it. Henry, a
friend of Peace, told me that I was popular at
the Jaja Hall and that there was a footage of
the incident and I wanted to get away from it.
“I had a friend (name withheld), who
belonged to the same organisation in the
school as me; he liked me and when he
heard about the story and video, he asked
questions.
“Unknown to me, he reported to the school
authorities and on March 1, 2017, he told
me to follow him to Ecobank to withdraw
money, but unknown to me, he wanted me
to see the school counsellor.
“The school counsellor beckoned to me
and I saw my bio-data with her; she asked
me to follow her and at that point, I knew
who she was.
“I thought I was going to be expelled from
the university; she pulled out a form and
asked me to state what happened and I
told her everything. She told me that the
school was behind me and promised that
the perpetrators would be caught.â€
The victim added that the counsellor asked
her to lure Omowole (first defendant) to a
place on the school premises, where he
was arrested and taken to the office of the
Dean of Student Affairs, and he provided
the names of his accomplices.
The presiding judge, Justice Sururat
Soladoye, adjourned the case till March 18
for cross-examination of the victim and the
hearing of the bail application of the
defendants.
The judge ordered that the defendants be
remanded in the Kirikiri Medium Security
Prison.
Source:
www.tori.ng/news/117201/how-i-
was-gangraped-by-eight-unilag-
undergraduates.html
