A serial rapist and murderer, Ikenna James Joshua, has opened up to the police on how he and his gang member, Rasheed, currently at large, conspired to rape his 29-year-old neighbour, Adefisayo Tosin, at Ogijo Town, in Ogun State, after breaking into her apartment at midnight, before she was killed for fear of being exposed.
Ikenna also revealed how, not minding killing their victim, they started ransacking her apartment to cart away belongings before he fell into the hands of local vigilante men while his accomplice escaped.
The Police Spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who confirmed the arrest of the suspect, to The Trumpet, said that he was nabbed for raping and killing Tosin, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, after invading her apartment to commit robbery.
The Police spokesperson said that the victim was fast asleep at midnight last Sunday, when Ikenna and his accomplice broke into her apartment through the ceiling, raped and then strangled her till she died.
He stated that other neighbours, including the mothers of the suspect and the deceased, discovered that Tosin’s apartment had been broken into when knocks on her door by her mother got no reaction.
Unknown to them that the lady had been murdered, the neighbours reportedly invited the local vigilante to the scene, and while trying to find out what had happened, Ikenna was seen coming down from the ceiling, where he had been hiding after committing the act.
He was quickly apprehended, while a distress call was made to the police at Ogijo Divisional Headquarters.
DSP Oyeyemi said that on receiving the report, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ogijo Division, CSP Onatufeh Umoh, quickly led his men to the scene and got the suspect arrested.
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On interrogation, Ikenna confessed that he and his partner-in-crime decided to kill the victim after raping her because they discovered that she recognised them.
Ikenna’s mother, who was said to have described her son’s arrest as good riddance, said that she had given up hope on him, as he had always been a bad son.
In an interview, Ikenna revealed his criminal escapade: “I’m from Imo State but living at Ogijo in Ogun State. I came to the town in 2017. My father is late and I live with my mother in Ogijo.
“On Sunday, April 3, I stole the sewing machine of my uncle’s wife, which he kept with my mother. I immediately sold it as scrap at N4,000.
“When my mother came back from church, she went to the room where the sewing machine was kept and noticed that it was not there. She must have realised that I was involved in the disappearance of the equipment so she started calling me. I ran from home immediately because I knew what she wanted to ask me. I went to my friend, Rasheed, to whom I sold the machine. He is also living at Ogijo and sells scraps. He had initially told me he would not buy things as he had been doing, telling me to look for ways to ‘work’ by robbing people of their belongings.
“That same night, he told me about how to get more sewing machines. I knew a lady called Tosin that was living in the same compound with me and my mother. Her apartment is next to ours. I told Rasheed that Tosin had two sewing machines and he said that we should break into her apartment at midnight, tie her down and take all her valuables.
“At about 1 am, we broke the ceiling of Tosin’s apartment to gain entry. When we got in, we met her sleeping and I started romancing her as she had only her underpants on because of the hot weather.
“As I touched her, she woke up and was shocked at seeing us. That was when Rasheed told me to hold her hand and throat, while he started having sex with her.
“After he was done, I took my turn. She started screaming when she saw our faces, which made us hold her throat tightly and cover her face with a cloth. She went limp as she could not breathe very well.
“Thereafter, we took one of her sewing machines, food items, such as rice, beans and spaghetti, copper wire and phone, but we couldn’t find any money.
“We kept searching everywhere in the apartment to get more things, and by the time we wanted to leave at about 6 am, she had already died. As we were about going, her mother came and knocked at her door. When she didn’t get any response, she went to my mother and asked her if she had seen Tosin that morning and my mother said she had not.
“My mother also came to Tosin’s apartment to check on her. That was when she noticed the hole through which we broke into the apartment. Coincidentally, the vigilante group members were close by so they quickly informed them. At that time, we were still inside Tosin’s room and we knew that we had been caught.
“We went into the ceiling to link my mother’s apartment and as we were about coming out through the ceiling, with Rasheed coming out from the ceiling in my room and me using the sitting room, I just fell into the hands of the vigilante men who quickly grabbed me. However, Rasheed managed to escape.
“They had not known that Tosin was dead. When they started beating me, I opened up that her body was inside her room, as we had killed her.”
Foray into lifestyle of hard drugs and hooliganism
Ikenna also spoke about his mode of living from a tender age. According to him, “my father died when I was about two years. My mother was not around then, and members of our extended family rejected and later pushed me and my elder sister out because they said that they could no longer cater for us and were after their own survival. My sister was taken to an unknown person in Abuja to live with.
“I was on the streets early and started smoking cannabis at the age of six. I learnt it where I grew up at Idi Oro in Mushin. I finished secondary school in 2016 without sitting for WASCE because of lack of money and no one to support me. I used to fight around.
“Apart from cannabis, I’m also involved in the use of other hard drugs such as cocaine, Colorado, amphetamine (popularly known as Ice), Loud and Skuchies (a mixture of cannabis, Tramadol, codeine, zobo drink and water).”
The state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had directed the immediate transfer of the suspect to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation.
He also ordered a manhunt for Rasheed, the accomplice, for him to be brought to answer for the crime he allegedly committed.
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