UPDATE: Court Sentences BRT Driver, Andrew Ominikoron To Death By Hanging For Murder Of Bamise Ayanwole
The Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square has convicted and sentenced to death, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) driver, Andrew Nice Ominikoron, for the rape and murder of a 22-year-old fashion designer, Bamise Ayanwola.
In a judgment that lasted over two and half hours on Friday May 2, the presiding judge, Justice Sherifat Sonaike held that the prosecution, the Lagos State Government, successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offence.
The judge held,
“that for the death of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, you will be hanged by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy upon you.”
The court also convicted the defendant for the rape of a 29-year-old lady, Nneka Maryjane Ozezulu, on November 25, 2021.
The court noted that the defendant had a history of raping female passengers in his BRT bus as submitted by the extrajudicial statements of two victims of his crime – the testimony of Ozezulu, and the terrifying voice note sent out by Bamise just before she died.
The court said the voice note showed that Bamise did not consent to sexual intercourse with the defendant.
Andrew was arraigned on a four counts of alleged rape, conspiracy with others at large and the murder of the twenty-two year old on the Lekki-Ajah Conservation expressway on February 26, 2022.
In February 2022, Bamise entered a BRT bus but never got to her destination. Security operatives later found her naked body by the road side.
It was later gathered that the defendant conspired with others and raped and killed the 22-year-old passenger and threw her out of the moving bus.
A prosecution witness, Mr Oluwapelumi Ayanwole, Bamise’s elder brother, told the court that his sister’s lower body part (pubic area) was covered in blood and badly damaged.
He was led in evidence by Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN).
He testified that the deceased was the last of 10 children. The witness said that he found out about his sister’s alleged murder on Feb. 28.
He said that on Feb. 27, he received a call from his brother, who was based in Kano, asking about the deceased.
“I immediately called home to find out about Bamise,” he said.
The witness said that while the deceased was on the BRT, she exchanged voice notes with one of her friends, Felicia.
“I was alarmed when the friend sent the voice notes they shared on WhatsApp,” he said.
He said that the following Monday, he went to the BRT Terminal Three to report the matter but was directed to the Lagos Bus Service Ltd. (LBSL). He said:
“We were referred to two CSOs and they said that none of the drivers reported a case of a missing person. I asked to have access to their CCTV camera so that we could know what transpired in their vehicles.”
The witness told the court that the officials told him to get a police report to be able to access the CCTV ( Close Circuit Television) camera.