41-yr-old bus driver who allegedly raped a 78-yr-old woman arraigned, kept in Kirikiri

Jelili Lawal, the 41-year-old bus driver who allegedly raped a 78-year-old woman has been arraigned in court by the Lagos State Police Command.

The commercial bus driver who was arraigned at a Lagos Magistrate Court on a one count of rape, however pleaded not guilty to the charge levelled against him.

According to Inspector Raphael Donny, the police prosecutor, the offence allegedly committed by Lawal on January 1, 2019, around 8pm at Oloti Village, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, contravened Section 261 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (revised).

After listening to the prosecutors address, Mrs B. O. Osunsanmi, the Chief Magistrate, ordered that Lawal be remanded in the Kirikiri and adjourned the case till February 18, 2019, for further hearing.

According to reports, the 78-year-old victim who was going to her home in the Ketu area of Lagos, missed her way before the bus driver offered to take her to her destination.

Unknown to the victim, Lawal had another plan as he drove her to the Adeniyi Jones area of Ikeja, Lagos State, where he allegedly raped her.

Read also: 40-yr-old man bags 3-yr sentence for raping 80-yr-old woman

According to Mr. Edgal Imohimi, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, the woman’s cry for help alerted residents who called the police who came to rescue her and also arrested the suspect.

“On Tuesday, January 1, 2019, around 8pm, a woman, 78, met one Jelili Lawal, 41, a bus driver, at Maryland and told him that she had missed her way and did not know how to get to her house in Ketu.
“The said Jelili Lawal offered to help her. The woman was delighted and she boarded the bus, unknown to her that Lawal had other intentions.

“The suspect drove the victim to a location in Oloti village, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, and raped her without regards to her age. While the suspect was at it, the woman let out a cry that attracted someone in the neighbourhood, who quickly called the police and directed them to the location where the cry emanated from.

“That was how the police caught the suspect in the act and rescued the old woman, who was already bleeding from her private parts as a result of the assault on her dignity.”

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