On Friday, a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos ordered that a 47-year-old Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, Andrew Ominnikoron, be held in Ikoyi Custodial Center for the alleged murder and rape of Oluwabamise Ayanwole, a 22-year-old girl.
Ominnikoron was remanded in custody for 30 days by Magistrate O.A. Salawu.
She ruled that Ominnikoron be kept in custody seeking legal advice from the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The defendant is charged with conspiracy, murder, rape, and corpse misconduct.
The charge was read to the defendant, but the court did not accept his plea.
Salawu postponed the case to April 11 to seek advice from the DPP.
Earlier, Mrs. Yetunde Cardoso, the Officer in Charge of the Legal Department at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, stated that Ominnikoron committed the crime about 8 p.m. on Feb. 26 along the Ajah-Oshodi expressway, on a Lagos State BRT vehicle with code number 257.
She said that Ominnikoron, who was working as a bus driver at the time, raped Ayanwole and forced her off of the moving BRT vehicle.
She claimed that the offense violated sections 411, 223, 260, and 165 of the Lagos State Criminal Law, 2015. (Revised).
Section 223 calls for the death penalty for murder, Section 260 calls for life in prison for rape, and Section 165 calls for five years in jail for tampering with corpses.
