Posted on: 09:02 Sat, 05 Dec 2015



The police authority in Ado-Ekiti, the
Ekiti State capital, have arrested
three persons in connection with a
robbery attack on a retired United
States Naval officer, Mrs. Titilope
Ayeni-Are.

She had just arrived Nigeria from the
US after being away for over 12
years. She was due to resume her
new job as a lecturer in one of the
tertiary institutions in the state
when the incident occurred.

The first robbery attack occurred on
Sunday, August 9 when burglars
invaded her residence at Charity
Street, behind Petim Sawmill,
Adehun, Ado Ekiti, the state
capital,while she was away in church
between 9.15 am and 1.45pm. Before
her arrival, valuable items including
three laptops, two DVD players, three
mobile phones and a modem had
been stolen.

Policemen recovered a bunch of keys
with which the robbers gained access
into the house.

According to Punch, three days later,
when she visited the Ado Ekiti office
of Etisalat to retrieve her stolen line,
she was told the line was still being
used, which prompted her request
for the call log.

Investigation revealed that the most
frequent caller of the line was one
Funke Adenowo, a cleaner at First
Bank, Opopogboro Branch, suspected
to be the girlfriend of one of the
burglars.

Following investigations, police later
arrested two brothers, Bode and
Wale Fakorede as well as one Segun,
who came from Ibadan to buy two of
the three stolen laptops.

Wale and Bode were granted bail
after they were arraigned before an
Ado Ekiti Magistrate’s Court.

After their bail, Wale reportedly led
another robbery attack on the house
on November 24, where he attacked
Ayeni-Are with a machete. The
suspect was said to have attempted
to rape her also before police
intervention.

She said, “My five-year-old son was
with me at the time. Wale, who led
the other gang members I could not
identify, told me to look at him very
well. He said he planned to kill me. I
was left in the pool of my blood,
after which he went to ransack the
bedrooms.

“He went back to switch on the
generator and asked about where I
kept money, my ATM card and PIN
number. He asked about my husband
and I told him that he was in
America. He asked from my son
where his father was and my son
told him that his dad is in America.

“He asked for my car keys,
particularly that of a Pathfinder SUV,
I told him that I didn’t have any such
vehicle. He asked about the three
laptops, which were earlier stolen, I
replied that I had given them out. He
then removed my necklace.

“He asked me if I knew where they
sent him after the first attack, I told
him that it was the court that sent
him there. He said that throughout
the time, he never had the
opportunity of enjoying s*x and that
it was now an opportunity to do it
with me.

“The other accomplice, whom he
came with, kicked against what he
intended to do but he threatened
him. He said he would do it right in
front of my son for him (my son) to
see the action.

“He ordered me to go back to the
bedroom and unzipped his trousers
and it was in that process that my
phone rang. He dragged me out of
the house to the back door and
dragged me to a well. He attempted
to throw me inside the well.

“When I fell off the well, he pinned
me to the wall and in the course of
the struggle, a rope and the cloth
with which he gagged me removed
and I screamed ‘O ti pa mi o, oti pa
mi o’ (He has killed me, he has killed
me).

“I ran towards the gate but unknown
to me, my neighbours had already
called the police.”

The suspects were later arrested.

When contacted, the Police Public
Relations Officer in the state, Alberto
Adeyemi, said the Department of
Criminal Investigations in the state,
had swung into action and started an
investigation into the case.

Adeyemi said, “Yes, I am aware of
the case. We are still investigating
the incident and it is being handled
by the DCI after the case was
transferred from the Oke-Ila Police
Station which conducted preliminary
investigations.

“The investigation is still ongoing
and when we conclude our
investigation, the suspects involved
will be charged to court.”