SHOCK, surprise and disbelief could best describe the impressions on the faces of crack detectives attached to the dreaded State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti Street Yaba, Lagos on the gory discovery of mutilated body of a middled-aged women tucked in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag and dumped in an uncompleted building somewhere in Igando area of the state.
Okanlawon Efukayo ...I didn’t kill the woman
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One of the officers who could not hide his emotion after the bag which contained parts of the woman was zipped opened simply described the act as ungodly. “This is the height of man’s inhumanity to man.” The woman, who residents said was very popular in the community, was identified as Rashidat Akinsola. She was said to be nursing a 3 -year-old boy before she met her painful and sudden death in the hands of yet to be known killers.
Already, a 45-year-old welder, Okanlawon Efukayo, who was picked up from an apartment in the uncompleted building and on whose bathroom some dangerous weapons including cutlass, knives and hammer were allegedly recovered, is in police net undergoing interrogation. But in swift self defence, the self-acclaimed father of 8 has flatly denied the allegation saying he was just a victim of circumstance.
Crime Guard scooped that a night preceding the discovery, a deafening noise was heard coming from the building as if some people were pounding yam in a mortar. After a while, remarked some anonymous respondents, the noise calmed down and everybody went to sleep only for residents to wake up the following morning to behold a bag soaked in blood and carefully dumped in an uncompleted building on Olorungbebe street, Isuti-Egan in Igando.
The building, it was learnt, had some tenants including the arrested welder as illegal occupiers. Residents promptly raised an alarm and alerted the police. Meanwhile, the late woman, said to be very popular and friendly with many in the sleeping community report was not seen for three days before the discovery of her butchered remains.
However, on scrutiny, sources hinted that the police discovered that her vital parts like the lips of her private part, her breasts and finger tips were missing, fuelling speculations that she may have been a victim of ritual murder.
Describing the act as “wicked”, a resident who simply gave his name as Baba Ibeji said, “This woman you are seeing in this bag like an animal, is well known in this community and very jovial too. To discover her butchered body like some pieces of meat is to show you how wicked people can be in their quest to hide their dastard act.
The people who perpetrated this act thought by severing her into parts, it would be difficult to identify her and so escape justice. But they forgot that God is alive. There is no hiding place for the wicked.”
Continuing, the respondent said, “ This morning, people were screaming that there was a bag soaked in blood and kept in this uncompleted building. So everybody raced to the scene. When the bag was opened, it was discovered that it contained human body cut into pieces and somebody was able to identify the face as Rashidat. That was why we invited the police.
Arrest
When the police arrived the scene, they turned the entire uncompleted building upside down, following which the suspect was fished in a hide out in one of the apartments.
An officer who did not want his names in print told Crime Guard that, “When we arrived the scene of the crime, we saw a bag soaked in blood and when it was opened, we discovered a woman’s body that was cut into pieces like that of an animal.
The body was packed in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag. During investigation, we spotted some blood stains and we followed it until we got to a room. In that room, we discovered a carton was used as carpet; that too was soaked with blood.
Then, on the walls, we spotted a pair of trousers which was also stained with blood. We moved further to the bathroom and we saw some weapons, like the knife and cutlass and hammer which had blood stains on them, and eventually we discovered the suspect in one of the adjacent rooms. He was of an unsteady posture and we had not alternative than to arrest him.
We are of the strong conviction that he may have used the weapons to slaughter the defenceless woman for whatever purpose.
Suspect’s denial
But Mr. Efukoya whose tales sounded convincing vehemently denied the allegation blaming his desperation to get an apartment for taking to reside in an uncompleted building.
Said he, “ I have been
looking for an accommodation for long time now, and since I lost my shop to officials of the Lagos State Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) in Igando, life has been difficult for me. There was no enough money to rent a good apartment, that was how I found myself here through an agent, Olorungbebe.
“I did not kill this woman even though the police is claiming that I am responsible for her death. How I go take kill somebody wey I never see in my life before? I am not a killer, I did not kill her. God bear me witness.”
In the mean time, the mutilated remains of Mrs. Akinsola has been deposited in a public mortuary for forensic analysis..
