In the sleepy town of Ibeshe in Ikorodu, Lagos, women have become endangered species. No woman is safe in the community. Whether young or old; married or spinster, they have become game for a man who prowls the vicinity in the dead of the night. The women go to bed every night in fear because they do not know whether they will become his next victim. And this evil of a man does his homework well before he strikes. He targets women who are alone at home. For the married ones, he seems to know when their husbands are not around.
He knows that his potential victim will be most vulnerable when she is alone, so he bides his time before he strikes. He strikes under the cover of darkness and he is aided by the unavailability of light. Since the nation has been thrown into darkness by the power firms unscrupulous elements now have a field day committing atrocities across the country. This man is one of such elements. He prowls the Ibeshe community, raping and maiming women. To him, raping has become a pastime. He sneaks into a house, binds his victim, rapes her, inflicts injuries on the poor woman and vanishes into thin air.
If the victim screams, she is dead, if she does not, she suffers the same fate. It is a no win situation for her. Last June 5, he struck again. His latest escapade was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The community had become fed up with his atrocities and in no time, the dwellers rose as one to smoke him out. ‘’Is it possible for an outsider to be tormenting us like this?’’ they reasoned. Indeed, somebody cannot be coming from outside to be committing such atrocities except if he has the support of an insider or he must actually be an insider.
They thought they had their man last Sunday, but it turned out that the fellow is not the one behind the mask. Who is the man? Where does he come from? Is it possible that he comes from outside to torment these women without the support of an insider? Who are his partners within Ibeshe? Where can he be hiding in the town? Does he have friends or family members? Who are they? To get this man, all these questions must be answered, otherwise, he will continue to strike and run.
Only an insider will have the kind of information that the man has about the dwellers. His June 5 victim was a married woman, but her husband is not based in Ibeshe. Her husband works in Osogbo, the Osun State capital. This information was at the disposal of this evil doer, who knew that he had all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted when he stole into the late Mrs Grace Jubreel’s home in the wee hours of that fateful day. The deceased was with her 14 months old daughter. Poor girl, what could she have done to save her mother? Nothing. The tot was as helpless as her mother as the beast of a man forced himself on her. The late Mrs Jubreel screamed and screamed, but no help came because of the noisy generators, which muffled her cries.
If there had been light, things may have been different because her neighbours and the security guards might have heard her and rushed to her aid. But the community was in pitch darkness. Regular power supply is critical to crime fighting, especially at night. But what can we do when the distribution companies have resolved to subject us to perpetual darkness and endanger our lives. The public is not demanding stable power for the sake of it, but because it is essential to the people’s safety and security. A well lit place will always be a no-go area for any criminal; while a dark spot will embolden them to attack people. We are at criminals’ mercy when there is no light and this was what happened in Ibeshe 11 days ago.
The man had all the time in the world to harangue his victim because everywhere was dark. Even when help belatedly came, getting more people to take the late Mrs Jubreel to hospital was difficult because of, you guessed right, there was no light. Hear Mr Titilayo Ibraheem, Oke-Ota Community Development Association Chairman : ‘’Immediately, I started knocking on other tenants’ doors because none of them knew what had happened …they were all still in deep sleep. I saw that a generator was on and the sound might have prevented them from hearing. I quickly put off the generator and hit the doors hard, they later came out’’. The community’s chief security officer, Femi Oluwaloba, also told a similar story.
Wolves like this unknown serial rapist operate in the night because it is the safest time to do evil. The more daring among them operate in the daytime, most times to their peril. These wolves operate in a pack, relying on the strength of their number to terrorise people. But this rapist is a lone wolf, who has turned the women of Ibeshe into his play thing. God saved the man that was caught last Sunday, exactly one week after the rapist, who is at large, mauled Mrs Jubreel. The people wanted to give him jungle justice thinking that he is the man, but for the intervention of their monarch, Oba Richard Ogunsanya, the Olu of Ibeshe, who insisted on inviting the police. The rapist is on the run, but the women who he raped will never forget the trauma. He ruined their lives just to satisfy his inordinate urge.
What will make a man rape a 87-year-old woman as he did? What is his motive? To make money? Acquire spiritual power? Whatever it is, I pray that the law will catch up with him. I felt like weeping when I read the story of his octogenarian victim who said she has accepted her fate. What else can the old woman do? Only the law can give her succour. May the law not disappoint her.
NATION
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