Some gunmen believed to be robbers have raped and killed a passenger on the Elele-Ahoada Expressway in Rivers State.
In the incident on Sunday night, the robbers led by a man called ‘General,’ hijacked a Toyota Sienna bus carrying 10 passengers from Owerri, Imo State en route to Bayelsa State.
A survivor, Mr. Uroko Victor Onuora, said that he and nine other passengers boarded the bus from Control Junction, Owerri, Imo State, and were going to Bayelsa State before it was hijacked.
Onuora said that the robbers, who were initially mistaken for kidnappers, led them inside the bush where they raped all the five women before taking their cash, phone and other valuables.
According to him, the lady who was shot in the head attempted to flee after she was violated by some of the robbers.
He said: “I was travelling alongside other passengers and it was getting late, 9pm precisely.
“The driver was speeding to get us to our destination before it got later than it was when out of nowhere men of the underworld jumped out unto the expressway. They threw logs of wood and other metallic objects right on the path of our vehicle which made our driver to brake to a standstill.
“We were pulled, slapped, kicked and hounded from the vehicle unto the tarred expressway and made to lie face down with scrapped elbows, knees and faces.
“Our phones were forcibly collected. Then we were pushed and marched into the bush to the first clear space while they drove the bus with our belongings to other location.”
The victim said the robbers forced them to lie down again while they emptied their pockets into a bag each and tied around each person’s neck.
He added: “We were marched further into the forest, this time with our eyes blindfolded with our singlets and our hands tied with other pieces of cloth. When we got to another cleared location we were made to lie face down while the contents of whatever they got from each of us were emptied near the owner – physical currency, wrist watch, chains and likes were separated – then ATM cards were separated too. By then I was beginning to wonder if it was a robbery or a planned kidnap.
“They brought each phone that was collected from each person and placed it beside the owner.
Then they politely asked for our ATM pins which some of us initially refused to produce.”
However, the robbers, according to him, shot the first man who refused to say his pin.
He said: “We heard him screaming in pain while shouting his different pins for different bank accounts as well as begging them to spare his life and get him any medical attention.
“At the same time, one of the girls who were being raped by the robbers sprang up and ran blindly. She ended up being shot in the head.
That was when we knew they meant business and all the fight and manly skimming in our brain fizzled out and we humbly and meekly submitted our pins, praying the ordeal ends soonest.”
According to him, the gang leader said it loud that if any of the pins should turn out wrong the owner would be shot in the head.
Onuora said that they were left like that till the next day when their colleagues called to tell them there were people among victims with more than N200,000 in their accounts but because of the ATM rule of not withdrawing more than N200,000 in a day they would have to attempt again the next day.
He added: “They left us there in the forest and went away with those people probably to continue the withdrawing by the next day.”
When asked if it was reported, Onuora said they trekked to the nearest checkpoint and reported to the policemen they saw there. “They were nonchalant about the entire thing and were even reluctant to help us despite the fact that one of us, a lady, was even fainting.”
Onuora said, in his own case, the robbers withdrew everything in his account through the Point of Sale (POS) machine.
