Suspected Fulani herdsmen gang-rape, kill woman in Ondo

Suspected Fulani herdsmen are said to have gang-raped and killed a woman at her farm in Ondo State.

The victim, one Mrs Roseline Joguntan, said to be a fruit seller,  hailed from Igbokoda in Ilaje council area of Ondo State.

It was learnt that the deceased was attacked by the alleged herdsmen when she went to her farm in the company of one of her children to gather fruits.

According to a source from the village, the deceased after gathering the first basket of the fruits, “told her child to take it home. It was when the girl came back that she noticed that her mother was missing before she later found her dead in the bush.”

Read Also: Terrorists Kill 11 Top Task Force Officials, Others In Niger

The source added that it was the deceased husband, Mr Joguntan, who reported the case at the police station.

There has been an influx of herdsmen in the area in recent times and residents believed some criminals among them were responsible for the gang-raping and killing of the woman.

One of the residents claimed that as soon as the incident happened, some herdsmen were seen vacating the town en masse.

The police spokesman in the state, Funmilayo Odunlami, who confirmed the incident, said that the husband of the deceased reported to police after he failed to reach his wife on phone.

Odunlami said that it was when the husband went to the farm to check on her that he found her lifeless body in the pool of her blood.

She assured that the killers would soon be arrested and brought to book.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ilaje Security Council, Prince Emorioloye Owolemi, speaking on the incident said, “It is so sad that Igbokoda is witnessing the highest security threat. It has become daily killings. People live in fear and business activities have been paralyzed.

“Therefore, we are calling on the state government to please help in strengthening local vigilante in Igbokoda.”

Further calling on the Commissioner of Police in Ondo State and other security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, unravel the circumstances that led to the killing of the housewife and bring the perpetrators to the book, Owolemi said:

“We are determined to fight for justice on behalf of any of our citizens, and before things get out of hands in Igbokoda, all perpetrators need to face the full wrath of the law.”

Meanwhile, police were said to have deposited the corpse at the state specialist hospital morgue for autopsy.