News: Man rapes aunt, kills 80-yr-old grandfather

It was the height of abomination: A young man in Ekpoma, the headquarters of Esan West local government area of Edo State, allegedly raped his aunt, and killed his grandfather for daring to report the incident to the police.

Osagie allegedly committed the murder after being arraigned in court for rape and granted bail.


Another of the suspected assailant’s aunt, Maria, said her nephew was infuriated that the 80-year-old man, Pa Asemienwalen, informed the police about the rape  incident, leading to his arrest and prosecution.

Osagie will be an ungrateful grandson if proved that he killed his grandfather as the old man was said to have raised him after his son who bore Osagie died.

Maria, the aunt and a  500-level student of Ambrose Alli Unviersity, Ekpoma, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, said she had to relocate to Benin-City following threat to her life by the suspect’s associate after his arrest for the murder and transfer to Benin city for further investigations. Narrating the story, she, tearfully, said about two months to her father’s murder, the grandson became a terror to the family while all advice from the old man to mend his bad ways fell on deaf ears.
*Asemienwalen...dead for reporting grandson’s alleged crime

“About  months to my father’s death, he, Osagie, burgled the house and removed my father’s valuables  and money. As a result, we stopped leaving valuables, money and telephone handsets in the house,” the aunt alleged.

“As if this was not enough, when he learnt that my junior sister, Juliet, left her telephone handset in the farm, and was on her way to retrieve  it, he secretly followed her and raped her after beating her. Unable to bear this abomination, my father reported the incident to the police at Ekpoma who arrested him and charged the matter to  court after  investigations.

“He was granted bail by the magistrate court at Ekpoma and the matter was adjourned to 30  May, 2013 for hearing. Once he was out of custody, Osagie vowed that my father will pay with his life for reporting the case to the police. My father  reported the threat to his life to the police at Ekpoma and begged them to protect him.

“However, when the case came up for hearing on 30 May, the court did not sit and, on  1  June, Osagie struck in the early hours of that day, woke my father up, strangled him and escaped before help could come”.

Maria appealed to the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Funsho Adebanjo, to ensure that justice was done, saying some of Osagie’s sympathisers had been boasting that nothing will come out of the case. She said that she was afraid of going back to Ekpoma to continue with her studies as she continued to receive death threats on her telephone from the suspect’s associates.
Counsel to the Asemienwalen family and human rights lawyer, Benjy Iluobe, while calling for the alleged murder case to be charged to court, said he was monitoring the investigations by the police.

Osagie, who has since been re-arrested by the police in Ekpoma, was said to be  cooling off at the State Investigations Department of the Edo State Police Command. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Moses Eguaveon, said the police had stepped  up investigations into the matter and the investigations, once completed, the suspected would be charged to court.