BRT driver Andrew Ominikoron has renounced his police confession after being charged with the alleged rape and murder of passenger Bamise Ayanwola in Lagos.
Mr. Ominikoro is charged with raping and killing 22-year-old Bamise in February. On November 25, 2021, he is also charged with raping Maryjane Odezelu, another passenger.
Sunday Ihende, a homicide police officer and witness for the prosecution, stated to the Lagos High Court on Tuesday in Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) that he first encountered the defendant on March 7.
The defendant made an oral confession, according to the witness, because he couldn’t read or write.
“He said that he was assigned to afternoon duty from 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.” the witness said.
“He admitted picking the late Bamise at Chevron bus stop around 7 p.m. and said that a few bus stops after that he picked three male passengers.”
The male passengers ordered him to stop while one of them pointed a gun at him, the police said.
Ihende further said that while one held him at gunpoint, the two others dragged the deceased.
The police told the court that in the confessional statement, the defendant said he did not know when the passengers dragged the deceased off the bus.
“He sped off and thought that the late Bamise was with him,” the witness said. “And when he got to 7UP he parked the vehicle.”
The police officer said that when he asked if he came across any police officer on the road, the defendant said that he saw some but could not report the matter because he had flouted the company’s rule by driving beyond 7 p.m.
When Babatunde Martin, a state lawyer, tried to file the confessional statement as evidence, the defense lawyer, Kayode Omotubora objected.
Omotubora refused the admissibility of the confessional statement on the ground that they were taken “involuntarily and under duress.”