A father of two, who specialised in using social media platforms, especially Facebook, to lure gullible ladies to hotels, where he sedates, rapes and dispossesses them of their valuables. The suspect, Oluwole Falaseye, 30, who used the name Nipheme Ajanaku, usually posed as an Abuja-based bank manager on Facebook.
After familiarizing himself with young ladies through regular chatting, he would book for a meeting in a hotel in Festac Town, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State. This was how he hooked up with a lady identified simply as Mercy and invited her for a birthday party in Opera Hotel, at Rasaq Junction, Festac Town, last Friday. However, Mercy, a student of Polymer Engineering at Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, had an engagement outside Lagos and sent her cousin, Tinuke, who is also an undergraduate of Public Administration at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, to represent her.
Victim’s account
Narrating what transpired at the hotel, Atinuke said: “While at the hotel room, he demanded for my ATM pin, saying he wanted to transfer N30,000 into my account. I was initially skeptical, but gave him because he said he was a bank manager and that his boss owned the hotel.
“He offered me an alcoholic drink, but I declined because I don’t take alcoholic drinks. He offered me another, saying it was not alcoholic. I took it. That was all I could remember until I woke up to discover he raped me.
“I was bitter, because he is not my boyfriend and I never bargained for such violation. He apologised and we went downstairs for the supposed birthday. He later told me he was going upstairs to see his boss.
“I waited endlessly without seeing him. When I went to the room, I met the door opened, with the key still with me. I was shocked. “I discovered that my phones, a Samsung Galaxy S6 and another small phone, my necklace, ATM card and my wristwatch were gone. I went downstairs to inform the receptionists about the development and also asked if they saw him leaving.
“They said they do not keep tab on their customers. I raised an alarm which attracted people.” She claimed that the suspect withdrew N172,000 from her account.
When news reached Mercy, the girls planted a lady, who reached the suspect on Facebook, in the process of which he booked an appointment with her at Festac, only to be arrested by policemen.
Supect’s account
Falaseye, the suspect, yesterday said that lack of funds to pay for his three-year-old baby’s medical bill led him into such dubious acts. Falaseye, a secondary school drop-out, said: “This is my first time of doing this. I sell shoes and suits and I travel round Nigeria to buy and sell. But business has been bad and I didn’t have anybody to ask for money to foot my three-year-old baby’s hospital bill. “So I just figured out that I could meet the girl I have been chatting with and take her phone to sell. Yes I stole her items. “I told her to wait in the bar, while I went to the room, took her items and fled. I sold her phone for N20,000.” The suspect, according to Lagos State Commissioner for Police, Fatai Owoseni, would be charged to court soon, even as he warned Lagosians to be wary of his likes.