Rivers: Robbers shoot female victim for resisting rape; Fulani herdsmen explain gang rape pattern

Some gunmen suspected to be armed robbers on Wednesday shot their female victim for allegedly resisting a rape attempt at Agip Flyover, Rumueme, in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, near the Rivers State College of Health Sciences and Management Technology.

The victim was found in a pool of blood and taken to a medical centre, where she was resuscitated.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro in Port Harcourt on Thursday, the President of the Student Union Government, Rivers State College of Health Sciences and Management Technology, Igwe ThankGod, said security guards of the college, who were attracted to the gunshot sound, found the victim and administered first aid to her before the arrival of the police.

ThankGod added that the assailants escaped after perpetrating the act.

“Around 9pm, we heard a gunshot around the flyover at Agip Roundabout, close to my school, and when we went out to investigate what happened, we found out that a girl was shot in her hand after she was robbed of her money, phone and all her valuables. The hoodlums were attempting to rape her when our school security came out and rescued her.” He said.

ThankGod called on the police and the Rivers State Government to beef up security around the flyover to avert a recurrence of the incident.

“We contacted the police at the Sani Abacha Road divisional headquarters and a team came and took the girl to a clinic. But before the police came, we had already taken her to the college clinic, but health officials demanded a police report before they would commence treatment on her, so first aid was given to her before the police patrol team came.

“They said they would be taking her to either the police hospital or the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital so that they could attend to the girl in their presence,” he added.

A spokesman for the Rivers State Police Command, Nnamdi Omoni, who confirmed the incident, said he had yet to get the details.

We caught, raped our victim while grazing cattle – Bauchi teenagers

Meanwhile, three teenage Fulani herders arrested in Bauchi for allegedly gang-raping a girl in Itas/Gadau Local Government Area of the state have said they committed the crime to experiment what they saw in pornographic videos.

The suspects, who spoke separately to journalists while being paraded at the police command headquarters in Bauchi on Wednesday, narrated the roles they played in the crime.

The prime suspect, 15-year-old Jauro, the eldest among them, said they saw their victim in a bush and conspired among themselves to rape her.

He said, “I live in Itas/Gadau LGA. I am a cattle rearer. I used to be a student of a Quranic school there, but I have stopped attending. I was brought here (police command headquarters) because I raped a girl.

“She is not my wife; we only saw her in the bush while we were rearing our cattle. I didn’t know her before; I just heard her name when we got here.

“I decided to rape her because I had an urge. I had been watching pornographic videos in my phone, so I had been seeking an opportunity to experiment. I also inserted my penis in her mouth as was done in the porn videos I saw.”

Another suspect, Abdu (14), admitted to defiling the victim after the first suspect “finished with her.”

He said, “It was last week Friday that we committed the crime. We saw her in the bush when she and her sisters went to pluck fruit. We ran after them; while others escaped, she fell and we took advantage of her. But it was only the two of us that did it; the third person held her while we violated her.”

The third suspect, Saleh (13), said he did not take part in the act.

“I only held her for a little while to enable them (pointing to his friends) to have their turns,” he added.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Wakil, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, had told journalists that the suspects allegedly committed the crime on Friday, January 8, 2021, as was reported at the divisional police headquarters in Itas.

He said the three suspects were arrested after the victim and her parents reported the matter to the police.