Sophia Michaels
A 27-year-old man, Mima Chinecherem, has been arrested in Ondo.
He was apprehended by detectives in connection with the murder of an 80-year-old woman in Ondo state.
The victim, Mrs Felicia Aderibigbe, was murdered on her farmland located in Ore, Odigbo Local Government Area of the state, at the weekend.
Daily Trust had earlier reported how Aderibigbe, who had left home for the farm, was declared missing for several days before her corpse was finally found by a search party on the edge of the farm.
Her body was reportedly found on the farm in a manner suggesting she was raped to death.
Parading the suspect, alongside other accused persons, on Tuesday in Akure, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, said the suspect was nabbed after Aderibigbe’s children reported him to the police.
Odunlami-Omisanya revealed that the mobile phone of the deceased was later found in possession of the suspect after a search.
“Chinecherem, 27 years old, who specialises in Banga cutting at night on the farm pegged a palm frond in front of the house of the woman (deceased) and this arose the suspicion of her children.
“The suspect was immediately searched and the mobile phone of the old woman was recovered from him,” she said.
In a related development, a Togolese national, Gbegele Mustapha, was also nabbed by the police for allegedly killing his 58-year-old landlady, Adijat Olaoye, in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
Mustapha, 29, allegedly killed Olaloye, during a rape attempt inside her room in the Fanibi area of the capital city.
The accused, who is also a labourer at a farm settlement, was alleged to have broken into the one-room apartment of the woman and struggled repeatedly to sleep with her.
The helpless woman was said to have slipped, hit her head on the floor and died while struggling to escape from being raped.
The suspect fled after the woman dropped dead.
Neighbours who heard the shout of the victim were said to have rushed to her apartment and found her in a pool of blood. They consequently reported the incident to the police.
The suspect during interrogation with detectives claimed he was under the influence of Indian hemp he took on the day of the incident.
Others arrested by the police include suspected armed robbers, cultists, burglars, and those in possession of firearms.
Odunlami-Omisanya said the suspects would be prosecuted in line with the law.
The police spokesperson identified items recovered from the suspects to include electronics, motorcycles, mattresses, pieces of jewellery, gas cylinders, fetish items, male and female wares and shoes among others.
She, however, advised members of the public to always work with the police to get the state rid of crimes, stressing that security is a joint business.
