Witness laments in court robbery suspect raped his wife, stole her phone
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
One Japhet Akawe has told at Ogun High Court how a suspected armed robber identified simply as Moses raped his wife on a farm in Sagamu in the state, snatched her telephone handset, and also threatened the family.
Akawe was testifying on Wednesday in the trial of Moses before Judge O. S. Oloyede who also heard of how the suspect allegedly stole a motorcycle which the brother of the witness borrowed.
He recounted that on 18 March 2023, while he was away from home, his wife, sister and brother went to their farm to harvest cassava where Moses allegedly attacked them at gunpoint.
His words: “On March 18, 2023, at about 3pm, I received a phone call from my wife through my younger sister’s phone and she told me that she and my younger brother, Joseph, and his wife had gone to the farm to uproot cassava.
“She told me that the defendant forcefully snatched her phone, dragged her to the bush, forcefully had sex with her, took her naked picture and put pepper substance on her face.
“I called my friend to take her to the clinic where she was treated. I called my wife’s phone number and the defendant picked it up and asked if I was not happy he had not kidnapped my wife before he ended the call.
“Afterwards, the defendant called me with a number and issued a warning that I should not call my wife’s number and the number he called with, or he would come for my family.
“I called my wife the next morning through my younger sister’s phone to go to the police station and report that a criminal had collected her phone so that if anything happened, they would not hold her responsible.
“On Thursday, March 20, 2023, the owner of the motorcycle which the defendant forcefully collected from my brother arrested my brother and took him to court.
“The court granted him bail, but I was not around so he couldn’t meet the bail conditions and was taken to prison.
“When I came back, I met with the owner of the motorcycle, negotiated with him and paid him the money for the motorcycle, then the case was struck out in court.”
Akawe told the court that he reported the matter to the Sagamu Police Station and gave them the number with which the defendant allegedly called to threaten him and his family.
Three months after reporting to the police, he added, the number was tracked which led to the arrest of Moses.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel D. O. Efuwape the witness said he had not met Moses prior to the incident.
When asked how he was able to identify that the suspect was the person who called him, Akawe said it was through the call Moses made to him.
The court adjourned the case until March 20 (today) for continuation of trial.
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