A member of a gang that specialised in raping women and minors in Ibese, Ikorodu area of Lagos State, has been burnt to death after he was caught by an angry mob.
The alleged rapist, who was said to be an accomplice of a gang of four rapists terrorising residents of the community, was apprehended around 3pm on Saturday.
The gang leader, popularly called Badoo, had allegedly earlier been arrested by the police.
But some residents said the suspect in police custody was not Badoo, saying the one caught on Saturday was the real Badoo.
Sunday PUNCH learnt that the rapist had sneaked into a Celestial Church of Christ in Itesiwaju, a suburb of Ibese, and abducted an eight-year-old girl, while a vigil was ongoing.
He was said to have taken the girl to the back of the church, raped her to a coma and fled.
One of the worshippers, who came out of the church around 5am, reportedly found the girl writhing in pains and alerted the congregation.
The girl was said to have been rushed to a hospital.
Later in the day, around 2pm, the rapist reportedly went back to the community and was about to abduct another girl when he was caught by some youths.
“They stripped him naked and beat the hell out of him. One of the youths suggested that he should be set to fire and others agreed. They felt the police were not doing the needful on Badoo, who was arrested sometime ago,” an eyewitness, Fola, said.
However, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, condemned the jungle justice meted out to the suspect, adding that the perpetrators of the act would not go unpunished.
She said, “We learnt that a suspect was burnt to death by a mob in the community. The command will not tolerate jungle justice and efforts are ongoing to apprehend those responsible for the incident. They will be brought to book.”
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