“Bamise’s case was first reported as kidnapping” cop tells court

A police witness at the Lagos State High Court on Monday said Bamise Ayanwole case was first reported as kidnapping.

Goddy Ihende, a Superintendent of Police, who was cross-examined by the defence counsel, Abayomi Omotubora, at the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), said the case of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) passenger, Bamise Ayanwole, who was raped and gruesomely killed last year (2021), was first reported as kidnapping.

Addressing the court on Monday, October 31, 2022, Ihende told Justice Sherifat Sonaike that the case was initially reported as a kidnapping incident.

The witness also disclosed that Andrew Ominikoron, a driver of the BRT vehicle, who reportedly raped and murdered his passenger, Bamise, is a serial rapist.

Ihende, while testifying against Ominikoron at a Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), said the defendant is known for raping his victims in secluded places, adding that Ominikoron attempted to rape one Doctor Victoria Anieke.

According to the police superintendent, Anieke, on December 29, 2021, came to visit her friend and parents, in the Ikorodu and Ketu areas of Lagos, respectively, from Delta State when she encountered the BRT vehicle driver and was almost raped.

Ihende, who’s the seventh prosecution witness, told Sonaike of the court that the modus operandi of the defendant was to carry his victims alone and go to designated places to rape them.

“On March 29, 2022, I travelled to Delta State and when I met Dr Anieke, I asked her how she got to know about the defendant. She said it was on the Internet and when she zoomed the picture of Bamise and the defendant, which was placed side by side, she discovered that he was the same driver that attempted to rape her.

“Before Bamise, he succeeded in raping another passenger, Maryjane, on November 25, 2021,” Ihende added.

Recall that the incident according to the Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr Jide Martins was committed on November 25, 2021, and February 26, 2022, at the Lekki Conservation Centre, Lekki-Ajah Expressway and Carter Bridge, Lagos.

The DPP said that on Feb. 26, the BRT driver conspired with others still at large raped and killed the 22-year-old BRT passenger, Bamise Ayanwole and threw her out of a moving bus.