A screen printer, Oluwaseun Badejo, has been arrested for allegedly abducting and raping a 15-year-old girl, identified as Lateefat he met on Facebook.
The Senior Secondary School two pupil of a public school at Ifako, Gbagada, was allegedly drugged before the suspect had rounds of sex with her. The duo met on a social media platform, Facebook.
Badejo, who claimed to be a pastor, was said to have started by sending prayer messages to the victim. The 25-year-old was reported to have later invited her to a shop on Ayepe Street, Somolu, from where he lured her to his friend’s house. The suspect, with the help of his friend, drugged Lateefat and raped her.
The victim, who missed school and did not return home, was said to have been declared missing by her parents. After some search, she was reportedly traced to the Ita Baale area of Somolu, where she was rescued. Her brother told our correspondent that she could not stand up and had to be taken to a hospital for treatment.
He said, “She went to school on Monday and did not return home. On Tuesday, her mother became worried and called me to ask if I knew her whereabouts. That was because her school was near my house.
“When I got to her school, I did not see her and I reported back to her mother that she was also not in school. The mother and I went to meet her teacher to ask for her whereabouts.
“The teacher called some of her friends, who seemed to know her movements. They took us to the man’s shop, but she was not there. They suggested we go to the man’s house.
“We hid somewhere, while her friends went to check. They reported back that they found her sandals at the man’s apartment. I am a scout member. So, with my training, I barged in and got the man arrested. We saw Lateefat on the bed; she could not stand. We took her to a hospital and handed the man over to the police.”
The teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Lateefat’s friends identified Badejo as the man she had been chatting with on Facebook.
She said she pretended to be a detective to be able to drag the suspect to the Onipanu Police Station, where he was detained.
A police source said Lateefat’s drink was drugged by the suspect, adding that she woke up around 1am on Tuesday and found herself in bed with Badejo.
The source said early that day, the suspect had another round of sex with her.
He said, “Actually, the girl’s brother gave her a mobile phone sometime in January 2018 and she opened a Facebook account. That was how she accepted the friendship request of the suspect in February and they started chatting.
“After her mother collected the phone from her, the man gave one of her friends his telephone number and succeeded in luring her and the friends to his shop. He bought drinks for them that day.
“The girl in her statement said he later invited her to his house. The first time she went, he did not do anything to her. It was the second time that he abducted her; she was in her school uniform that day.
“Despite the fact that the girl was menstruating, he forcefully made love to her after drugging her drink. She woke up at 1am after midnight. That morning again, he raped her. When the girl tried to shout, he covered her mouth. The girl said all her begging fell on deaf ears.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, confirmed the incident, adding that the state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, had ordered that the case should be transferred to the gender unit of the command headquarters.
He said the pupil was deceived by the suspect’s pretence on the social media.
He said, “The girl is 15 years old, while the man claims to be 25 years old. They met on Facebook, where the man claimed to be a pastor and sent her prayer messages. The girl thought she was talking to a pastor, not knowing that he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. As a friend, he invited her to a place and she accepted. On getting there, he took her to his friend’s house and had his way with her.
“We suspect that the girl was drugged before he had the marathon sex with her. This was because when police operatives got there, they met a half-filled bottle of soft drink, with a chemical like sodium. We are trying to analyse the substance and the drink the girl took.”
Oti said the suspect’s friend, who aided the crime, had also been arrested.