A Fleet Manager at the Lagos Bus Services limited, Kayode Aluko, on Tuesday, testified as the second prosecution witness in the trial of Andrew Ominnikoron, a BRT driver accused of raping and murdering 22-year-old Oluwabamise Ayanwole.
The defendant is facing a five-count charge bordering on rape, conspiracy, felony, sexual assault, and murder preferred against him by the State Government.
The second prosecution witness told Justice Sherifat Sonaike of the Lagos High Court, TBS, how Ominnikoron fled after he invited him for an interrogation when the deceased family reported their daughter, who had boarded the bus, was missing.
According to him, the driver was employed by the Lagos Bus Services limited through an outsourcing company called Excel in September 2021.
He added that the three allegations of rape were never reported by the victims until February 28, after the deceased family reported the incident to them.
“The incidents of November 25, 2021, December 29, 2021, and February 28, 2022, were never reported by the defendants and the model of the bus he drove on those three occasions is Ashok Layland,” Mr. Aluko said.
Aluko testified that on February 28, at about 3:00 pm, when he heard Bamise’s elder brother arguing with security men at their gate, so he invited him in.
“They showed me a voice note and a video from the elder brother’s phone.
“In the video that I saw, it displayed my bus with number 240257 and the other voice were of two ladies and in their conversation, there was an expression of fear from the lady inside the bus to the other friend.
“This was on a Monday and the incident occurred on Saturday. I said I would do whatever I could do to help them. That night I took my car with four other personnel from the outsourcing company and went to Ogolonto at Ikorodu, where the defendant said he lives.
“On getting there, we didn’t see him; we called him several times, but he didn’t respond. But suddenly, he called back the outsourcing representative that brought him and said that he was in a hospital. But we couldn’t locate him at his residence or hospital.”
The witness further stated, “On November 25, 2021, Andrew Ominnikoron was the driver that drove Bus no. 240271 and he was on a PM shift. PM shift starts at 1:00 pm and ends at 10:00 pm. On December 29, 2021, the same bus was also allotted to the defendant, he was also on a PM shift and his route was Ajah- Oshodi.
“On February 26, 2022, Andrew Ominnikoron was allotted a bus with number 240257; he was equally on a PM shift, from 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm; he was number eight on the allotted bus.”
On Monday, the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), who led the prosecution team called the first prosecution witness, Nneka Maryjane Odezulu, before the Court and she narrated how the BRT Driver held a knife to her neck, raped her and transferred three thousand naira to her for pain killers when she boarded the bus on November 25, 2021.
Justice Sonaike adjourned the case till June 1, 2022, for the continuation of the trial.
