FUNAAB post-graduate student accuses online friend of rape
One Adesoji Orenowo has been accused of raping a postgraduate student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
The 24-year-old victim claimed that the a 35-year-old suspect raped her in his house at European Quarters, Meiran, Lagos.
The two had met at a wedding ceremony in Ibadan, Oyo State, in December 2017 and exchanged phone numbers. They began to communicate through social media chats and calls.
Orenowo allegedly invited the student, who lived in Abeokuta, to his house in Lagos and sent her transport money. The victim claimed in her statement to the police that she had agreed to stay at his house for the night as she already trusted him.
“The reason I visited him was to know him more after we met in December 2017. He told me that he was always busy at work and if I were free during the weekend, we could hook up. He sent me N3,000 for transport fare. That was the first time he would send money to me,” she said in her statement.
“When I got to his place, I slept there because I met his uncle and the uncle’s wife with some cousins, who welcomed me. Though I was still uncomfortable and was contemplating on going back home, his uncle’s wife said I was safe.
“Around 10pm, I went to sleep in the room provided for me, which was opposite his uncle’s room. Around 2.30am, I saw Orenowo beside me; he was touching and harassing me. I suddenly stood up and went to the passage. Fortunately, his uncle came out to urinate and saw me reading the Bible with the torchlight of my phone. I went to sit in the sitting room.
“Orenowo came and suddenly dragged me from the sitting room through the passage into the room. While hitting my head on the wall, he held my neck. I called for help, but his uncle did not come out.
“He almost strangled me, saying if I said anything, he would kill me and nobody would trace me. I received a lot of punches and slaps. He stripped me naked and threatened to tie me to the bed if I did not cooperate with him. He penetrated me through the anus and private parts.”
She claimed she reported the incident to Orenowo’s uncle and left the house for a hospital, in her report a nurse followed her to a police station to report the case.
Orenowo, however, denied the allegation, and pleaded not guilty to the charge during his arraignment before an Ogba Magistrates’ Court on one count of sexual assault.
“While I was touching her after we had retired to bed, she told me not to touch her that she was in a fasting and prayer programme. She took the Bible on my bed and left the room. When she later came back from the sitting room, we started romancing each other and she insisted that she did not want to have sex and I left her to sleep,” he said.
The magistrate, Mr P.E. Nwaka, ordered that the suspect be remanded in prison.
