Friday, October 18, 2024 - The Lagos State Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) driver, Andrew Nice Ominikoron, who is standing trial for the r@pe and m*rder of a female passenger, Bamise Ayanwola, has denied the offence, while pointing his finger at three others.
Omininikoron, 47, testified in his defence
on Thursday, October 17, before Justice Sherifat Sonaike of the Lagos State
High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square on the Island.
Led in evidence by his counsel, Abayomi
Omotubora, the defendant told the court that he did not r@pe or k!ll the
22-year-old fashion designer.
He claimed that it was three male
passengers who boarded his bus after official hours that r@ped her and threw
her off the vehicle.
He narrated to Justice Sherifat Sonaike
that on February 26, 2022, he was on an afternoon shift, which he resumed by 1
pm, and his route was from Oshodi to Ajah.
He said he made a round trip and went on
the second trip back to Ajah, when it was already around 7 to 8 pm. He said he
couldn’t continue working but decided to illegally pick passengers while going
back to Oshodi
The defendant is standing trial bordering
on r@pe, conspiracy, felony, sexual assault, and murd3r brought against him by
the Lagos State Government.
According to the charges, the incident occurred on February 26, 2022, around 7
pm, near the Conservation Centre, Lekki-Ajah Expressway, Lagos.
The prosecution alleged that Ominikoron
forcibly had s*xual intercourse with Oluwabamise Ayanwole before m*rdering her.
The alleged offences contravened Sections 411, 223, 260, and 165 of the
Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
Ominikoron pleaded not guilty to the
charges against him.
At the resumed hearing of the case on
Thursday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr. Babajide Martins, told the
court that the case had been stalled since November last year and then told the
court that the business of the day was for the defence to open its case.
The judge therefore ordered the defence to
open its case.
Ominikoron, who was led in his defence
witness by his counsel, Abayomi Omotubora, told the court that he picked the
late Bamishe at Chevron, and three male passengers at Agungi.
According to him, one of the male
passengers was coming forward, and he thought it was to pay him, then the
passenger threw something at his head and showed him a gun, asking him to
cooperate.
The defendant explained that when they pick
up passengers illegally, they usually tell them to sit at the back so that
officials of the BRT services on monitoring would not see them in the bus and
sanction the drivers.
He said he followed the instructions of the
gunman who asked him to divert his route and told him to put his vehicle on
neutral. The defendant further explained that the light inside the bus was on
but it was the dim light since he was avoiding being caught for picking
passengers.
He said,” The light that was on was enough
for those in the bus to see, but wasn’t bright enough for those outside to see
the bus.”
Omotubora then called for the audio
recording of Bamishe, which was played in the open court. He asked Ominikoron
if he was aware that the late Bamishe was recording or sending voice notes, and
he said he wasn’t, that the first time he heard it was when it was played to
him at the Panti Police Station after he had made his statement, but he didn’t
understand it because of the language barrier.
The defendant told the court that he didn’t
know the three men he picked up at Agungi as he had never seen them before and
would not be able to identify them.
He said that in Panti, he was severely
tortured and the police asked him to just agree with anything they said.
Ominikoron said, “I was brought out and
questioned every 15 to 20 minutes and they continually took my
statements.
“I could not write my statements due to the
torture, so two to three people questioned me while the writer sat in front and
wrote down my response.”
Omotuba then asked for Exhibits 10a, b, 11,
and 12.
Exhibit 10 was one of his previous
statements that was read. In the statement, he said she sat behind him, and he
was telling her that he liked her, but later asked her to go to the back to
avoid the LSBS officers from arresting him, and she went to the second to the
last seat. He said this happened before he picked the three men.
Ominikoron said that at the Osborne area,
one of the guys pointed a gun at him and diverted him. He added that when
they stopped, Bamishe was screaming for help while she was being dragged but he
couldn’t help because a gun was pointed at him.
Ominikoron said the men later got down from
the bus, then he went to the back to look for Bamishe, but he couldn’t find
her, so he went back to his seat and drove off until he packed his bus at the
toll-gate/7-Up terminal.
He said he went home and was home
throughout the next day, being Sunday.
He added that on his way to work on Monday,
still in shock, he was called to get to Oshodi. He said on getting there, he
heard that one of his passengers was missing.
Ominikoron told the court that he later
called one of his friends, Mr Hope, and told him he had a problem with his
landlord and in his office so he needed to discuss it with him. He said he went
to Ogun State to meet his friend and told him he wanted to stay there for a
while.
When asked if he slept with anyone on his
bus, he said he didn’t do that and that the male passengers r@ped Bamishe and
dragged her out.
He said he was shocked, so he couldn’t tell
anyone what happened while explaining on the Monday after Bamishe's
disappearance.
“While still on my way to work, I was
called to the head office in Oshodi to meet Mr Ola. On getting there, I was
told not to drive out, but wait.
“Then some of my colleagues were now saying
that I did ‘Korokpe’ (illegally picking passengers), after saying I didn’t do
that, they now said one of my passengers is missing.
“After hearing this, I now found a way to
leave the depot because I was afraid that the rumour had got to the office and
I remembered that my MD had continually told us that he could not use N1m to
chase someone even if it was N100. So, I ran away because picking people
illegally is equal to stealing,” he said.
When asked if he knew a certain MaryJane
(anothyer alleged victim) or r@ped her on November 25, 2021, he said he knew
her but didn’t r@pe her. He said though they were in a relationship, he had
never been intimate with her. He claimed that the last time they met, he sent
her N3,000 for her sick child and started avoiding her because she was always
demanding money from him anytime they met.
“After giving her the money on that day, I
avoided her and didn’t pick up her calls. So, I don’t understand nor know where
she got her ideas from,” he said.
He was also asked if he attempted to r@pe
Doctor (name withheld) and exchanged phone numbers on December 29, 2021, in
Ikorodu. He denied knowing her nor going to Ikorodu on that day.
Before adjourning at the request of his
counsel for further examination-in-chief of the defendant till Monday, October
21, Justice Sonaike strongly expressed displeasure at the slow pace of the
case.
The court said the frequent adjournments in
the trial have been at the instance of the defence counsel and that the last
hearing was on February 15, 2024.
The Director of Public Prosecutions at the
Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Babajide Martins, in his response to Mr
Omotubora’s request for adjournment, said he had received a query by the
Attorney General of the state over the case, as the Prosecution had closed its
case since November 2023.
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