A mother of two, 34 year old Tinuke Johnson(Not
real name), tells Tobi Aworinde of Punch how seven men raped her after she left
home on the evening of that day(21 feb 2014) to visit a friend at a hangout on
Babs Animashaun Street, Surulere, Lagos.
“That night, I was waiting to meet a
friend, but the person was not around. Then, a young guy in his twenties, who
was with his friend, approached me. He introduced himself as Kunle. We chatted
for some time. I discovered it was late when I checked my watch. It was 1.30am.
He pleaded with me to go with him to his house and after much pressure, I
agreed. All the while we spoke, he didn’t introduce his friend. But as we made
to go, he followed us,”
Johnson explained that she had taken
to prostitution last year, after her shop had been demolished by government.
According to the single mother, she needed to take care of her children and
other family members.
She said she and the men boarded a
taxi to a house located at 36, Abosede Kuboye Crescent, in the Eric Moore area
of Surulere. She explained that she decided to give her phone number to the
taxi driver, when she noticed that it would be difficult for her to find her
way when leaving.
Johnson said,
“When I got to the house,
there was no sign that there was any other person in the room. Kunle had sex
with me and left the room. After he left, another guy opened the door and said
he was next. It was my first time of seeing him that night. While forcing
me to lie down, I confronted him.
“He forcefully covered my mouth and
said I shouldn’t make a sound. I was so scared, because I didn’t know if he was
holding a gun. That was how, one after the other, they kept coming. In all,
they were seven. I did not know where they came from. I was traumatised and
managed to ‘flash’ the taxi driver, who immediately called back. I quickly told
him I was being raped and that he should get help for me. I later learnt he
went to mobilise other taxi drivers. Then they called the police.
“The seventh guy, tall and dressed
in black, forced me to lie down. I refused; I was so scared. I begged him, but
he threatened me, saying, ‘You don’t try me!’ He pushed me down. All the while,
the taxi driver kept calling my phone. Somehow, I managed to answer it. He
asked me to make a noise, because they couldn’t find which flat I was in. That
was when the guy tried to snatch the phone from me. It fell apart while trying
to snatch it from me. At that point, the taxi driver could no longer reach
me,"
Johnson added that she told the men
she wanted to use the toilet and they ordered her to use the one in their flat.
According to her, she refused, for fear that they coud harm her there. She said
it was at that point she heard the police blowing the siren.
“They said to one another, ‘The
police are around! The police are around!’ They ran in different directions.
Desperate to escape, I rushed out of the room into the veranda and jumped into
the next compound, spraining my ankle in the process. I didn’t even take my
clothes. I ran in my underwear.”
The disturbed woman said she hid
under a car until 3.30am.
Mrs. Gibson (not real name), who
lives in the compound which Johnson jumped into, told SUNDAY PUNCH that when
she first saw her on Saturday morning, she mistook her for a mentally
challenged person. She said Johnson wore only underwear, had a swollen ankle
and her body was covered in dirt.
“She explained that she was not mad
and she had been raped. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she cried all night. She
begged me to help her. After listening to her story, I cleaned her up, gave her
some clothes, and went to the neighbourhood association chairman to report the
incident,”
Chairman, Alaka Estate Extension
Residents Association, Mr. Tunde Kuboye, said Gibson brought the matter to the
notice of the association the next day during the association’s meeting.
He said,
“Like any other last Saturday of the
month, the leaders of the association were meeting on February 22 when Gibson
stormed the venue. She was distressed. She told me what happened and I decided
to inform the police. I called the Divisional Police Officer of Bode Thomas
Police Station, Mr.Oliver Esirim, who soon sent some officers. The policemen
took her (Johnson) to the police station, where she made a statement.”
Kuboye said the policemen returned
with Johnson about an hour after to identify the house.One of the residents in
the house where the rape took place, Mr. Adekunle Adeniyi, promised to ensure
that the suspects’ were ejected and arrested.
“I learnt one of the occupants and
some of his friends raped the lady. I was infuriated, so I went back to
confront them but they had escaped. As I was telling the guard to find them,
Kuboye came in with the lady and some policemen. They were the ones who
explained the whole matter to me.
“After the lady had confirmed the
suspects’ apartment to the policemen, I ensured that the guard threw out the
belongings of the boy who brought the lady. He is not a tenant. He was given
the accommodation free of charge by a relation of mine, who is his family
friend. I have had enough of him. I live here with my wife and kids. In the
middle of the night, he and his friends would be quarrelling and making a
noise, disturbing other occupants. On a number of occasions, I have had to come
out to warn them,”
The taxi driver who took Johnson and
the two men to the house, Mr. John Okon, said he left after waiting for over an
hour and the men did not come out to give him his money as promised.
Okon said,
“I told a fellow taxi driver what
they had done, when I spoke with the lady. It was then we decided to inform the
police. When we got to the house with the policemen, we couldn’t identify the
place. The lady’s number also didn’t go through. We didn’t know she had jumped
into the next compound,”
A senior policeman at the Bode
Thomas Police Station told our correspondent that the DPO had given
instructions that the house should be constantly monitored, in order to arrest
the suspects.
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