Bamise’s case was first reported as kidnapping, says police superintendent

Goddy Ihende, a Superintendent of Police, who was cross-examined by the defence counsel, Abayomi Omotubora, at the Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), said the case of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) passenger, Bamise Ayanwole, who was raped and gruesomely killed last year (2021), was first reported as kidnapping.

Addressing the court on Monday, October 31, 2022, Ihende told Justice Sherifat Sonaike that the case was initially reported as a kidnapping incident. 

The witness also alleged that Andrew Ominikoron, a driver of the BRT vehicle, who reportedly raped and murdered his passenger, Bamise, is a serial rapist.

Ihende, while testifying against Ominikoron at a Lagos State High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), said the defendant is known for raping his victims in secluded places, adding that Ominikoron attempted to rape one Doctor Victoria Anieke.

According to the police superintendent, Anieke, on December 29, 2021, came to visit her friend and parents, in the Ikorodu and Ketu areas of Lagos, respectively, from Delta State when she met the BRT vehicle driver and was almost raped.

Ihende, who’s the seventh prosecution witness, told Sonaike of the court that the modus operandi of the defendant was to carry his victims alone and go to secluded places to rape them.

“On March 29, 2022, I travelled to Delta State and when I met Dr Anieke, I asked her how she got to know about the defendant. She said it was on the Internet and when she zoomed the picture of Bamise and the defendant, which was placed side by side, she discovered that he was the same driver that attempted to rape her.

“Before Bamise, he succeeded in raping another passenger, Maryjane, on November 25, 2021,” Ihende added.

Lamenting Justice delay in the case of Bamise, the deceased’s uncle, in a chat to this writer, said it was already eight months that the deceased’s was raped and brutally murdered in the government-owned bus.