18th July, 2023
By Lucy Osuizigbo-Okechukwu
The Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Mr Aderemi Adeoye, said the command has arrested and detained 11 suspects in various cases of rape and defilement reported in the last one week.
In a statement issued on Monday in Awka by DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, the police spokesman, the CP decried the rate of moral decadence in the society.
He urged parents to pay greater attention to things their children were exposed to.
“On July 11, an obscene video clip that went viral showed a young lady, aged 19, being gang raped by a group of boys. Investigation revealed that the incident happened at Orama-etiti, Anam in Anambra West Local Government Area.
“The police at Otuocha collaborated with the local vigilance group in the area to arrest six suspects involved in the criminal act.
“They are Chinua Obikezie, 17, Collins Ogbodo, 19, Ifeanyi Chijoke, 17, Abuchi Ikechukwu, 17, Ezenwa Afam, 18, and Sunday Okafor, 27.
“Three other suspects implicated in the ignoble act are still at large. During interrogation, all the six suspects confessed to have taken part in the crime, ” he said.
Adeoye said that in a similar development, the Police while on patrol with a local vigilance group in Abagana on July 8 arrested three suspects on the allegation of raping a 15-year-old girl.
He said that the suspects were Chimezie Odugwu, 21, Nnamdi Anodebe, 19, and Jude Onua, 48.
From the confession of the suspects, the victim was wandering around Abagana Junction when Chimezie lured her to Nnamdi’s house in the same locality and both of them had carnal knowledge of her.
“She left the suspect’s house in tears and the elderly suspect, Jude, on the pretext of sheltering her brought her to his house and raped her before she was rescued by the police and vigilantes,” he said.
The Commissioner of Police said that police operatives from Ekwulobia Division arrested one Chinenye Ezemehege, aged 41, in connection with the alleged defilement of a 13-year-old girl.
According to him, the suspect, who claimed to be a security guard at the market, confessed to the act and stated that he had been paying the girl between N500 and N1,000 for her ‘service’.
“Preliminary information revealed that the parents of the girl normally send her to get firewood at the Ekwulobia Market before she fell prey to the suspect.
“Police operatives attached to Atani Division on July 13, also arrested one Odimako Ikenga, aged 38, from Ossomala village in Ogbaru LGA.
“The suspect has been on the Police Wanted List in an ongoing investigation of a case of defilement of a 12-year-old girl reported to the police on Aug. 28, 2022, ” he said.
Adeoye commended police operatives and vigilantes for being alive to their responsibility to society and expressed his determination to tackle the menace of sexual crimes and gender-based violence in the state.
He assured residents that there would be no hiding place for sexual predators, especially those who prey on minors.
According to him, all the suspects indicted in the course of the investigation will be arraigned.