A teenage robbery and murder suspect, Mighty Omini, has disclosed that he was promised N500,000 to drive away the car of a woman, who was raped and murdered in Calabar, Cross River State a week ago.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday in Calabar while being paraded alongside his suspected accomplice, Godwin Nyenine, as well as 28 other suspects arrested for various offences such as rape, drug peddling, cultism and child trafficking, among others.
Two other masterminds of the rape and murder of the woman, identified simply as Mrs Doris, were said to be at large. The victim was allegedly raped and murdered by a four-man gang on April 13 in her home at the State Housing Estate in Calabar.
Narrating his involvement, Omini said, “I was not involved in the killing of the woman. I was only invited to come and drive the car, which was parked over there. I was not aware that the woman was killed. Even when the police arrested me and I took them to the woman’s house, I wasn’t aware that the woman was dead. I was not involved in the operation.
“The leader of the gang, Udobong, said there was a car I would drive out of his compound and he would pay me N500,000.
“We are just getting aware that the woman is dead. I feel very bad. If I knew that someone’s life would be involved, I wouldn’t have done it, because I have a younger one and a mother, who is young.”
Nyenine simply said, “I came with this one (Omini) that drove the car. He just told me to escort him.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Sikiru Akande, who paraded the suspects, said Omini and his gang stole some valuables and an unregistered Nissan Sentra belonging to Doris after killing her.
An SUV and a Mercedes Benz car were also recovered from the other suspects.
Among the suspects paraded were a woman, Peace White, and her daughter, Promise Patrick, who were arrested for allegedly peddling a substance suspected to be cocaine.
The CP, who warned against illegal roadblocks in the state, called on members of the public to “maximally use the whistle-blowing opportunity to expose criminal elements operating in their domains.”
PUNCH