Abia gang-rape case: Suspects are husband’s cousins – Police

UMUAHIA — THE Police in Rivers State, yesterday, said they had unravelled the celebrated gang-rape case which allegedly took place at the Abia State University, ABSU, Uturu.

According to the police the incident actually took place in Obite town in Etche Council Area of Rivers State. The victim was also found to be married  while the suspects are her husband’s cousins.

The investigation was prompted by a social media record of an incident where four men gang-raped a girl allegedly at ABSU.

According to the Police, three of the suspects have been charged to Magistrate Court 9, Port Harcourt.

The information was contained in the Nigeria Police newspaper, The Dawn, of March 11-24, 2013 edition.

According to the report, detectives from the Rivers State Criminal Investigation Department, working on intelligence report on September 7, 2012, traced the husband of the victim code-named Mr. S from Obite town in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The report said Mr. S confirmed that the victim was his wife and that the perpetrators of the act were from his community.

The report said “after painstakingly tracing the identity of the suspects, it led to their arrest. They are Uchenna Ukulor, Chizoba Nwosu and Nwazuo Nmezi, while the fourth person is on the run.”

In the report, the police were quoted as saying that the suspects and the husband of the victim were invited and the video clip was played for them which clearly established that three of them with another at large committed the crime.

The suspects, the report further said, are cousins to the husband of the victim.

Abia govt lauds Police

Abia State Government, which put up spirited denial of the incident when it was linked to its university, reacted happily to the report, saying it has been vindicated.

According to Chief Press Secretary to Governor Theodore Orji, Mr. Ugochukwu Emezue, detractors of the state were behind the castigation of the state after watching the rape case on the social media, and commended the police for doing a good work to unravel where the incident actually took place.

Emezue also lashed at some members of the National Assembly “who never investigated the matter and jumped into conclusion.”