I steal from ladies to survive, says twice arrested suspect(part2)

Die hard...Kazeem

Adenike

One would have expected Nigerians, especially ladies to be wary while dealing with faceless strangers via internet since the Cynthia Osokogu saga.

Cynthia was a young lady who found love via facebook and left her home in the north to search for Romeo in Lagos State. She later ended up being murdered by Romeo and his friends.

 Mrs. Adebiyi Adenike Okunola seems to be one of those who are apt to easily forget about Cynthia Osokogu.

She, like Cynthia also met a guy via facebook. The guy introduced himself as a Prince, but the facebook display had no human picture except for a coat of arm emblem. The man would later be identified as Olalekan Kazeem, who incidentally had been arrested before for drugging and stealing from unsuspecting ladies.

Adenike and Kazeem got chatting; a friendship blossomed. One thing led to another, they decided to meet.

Items recovered from Kazeem

She soon found out that the guy was nothing but a petty thief! Kazeem disappeared into thin air with her N235, 000, 00, jewelry, two blackberry phones, original copies of school certificates, ATM and PHCN cards.

According to police, Kazeem was later arrested at the Redeem Camp, along Ibadan expressway.

Police investigations had also revealed that Adenike is not the only victim he had stolen from.

Atinuke

Fadake

Other victims are; Okunola Folashade, Ibrahim Ganiyat Bukola, Adefemi Fadeke Mercy and Akinbo Janet Atinuke.

These are victims presently besieging police station, singing like birds on how Kazeem dispossessed them of their valuables. Police are however working on the theory that there may be other victims, who are yet to surface.

It was gathered that Adenike met with the suspect on facebook, chatted and became friendly with him. In the course of their chatting, Kazeem, who studies mechanical engineering, claimed to be a surgeon, insisting that he wished to assist Adenike, who had just concluded her NYSC in February, with a job.

The suspect bragged that he had a friend, who is a custom officer. He explained to Adenike that his friend had a slot for a job in Customs, which the man could give to Adenike, if she could cough out N200, 000.

On November 15, 2012, Adenike and Kazeem set out for Abuja, where the supposed  Customs Officer is working and residing.

Along the way however, Kazeem pretended that his car had developed a fault. He implored Adenike to step down and assist him in pushing the car. As soon as the lady stepped down to push the car, Kazeem zoomed off.

When it dawned on the victim that Kazeem had played a fast one on her, she went to lodge a complaint at Ogundu Police Station.

He was arrested on December 23, 2012.

Since his arrest, news of his escapades had travelled like wildfire, filtering into ears of three NYSC members, whose bags and valuables he made away with.

The NYSC members are Okunola Folashade, Ibrahim Ganiyat Bukola, Adefemi Fadeke Mercy.

The trio was on their way to Ibadan, on December 20, 2012, when they ran into Kazeem. He offered them lift and they accepted. But on getting to tollgate, he diverted to old Lagos/Ibadan road, where as usual, he pretended that his car had developed fault, begged the girls to step down and help in pushing it.

And as before in the case of Adenike, he  zoomed off without a backward glance. He made away with the girls’ laptop,  cash, certificates, ATM card, toast machine, phones, clothes, among other things.

Akinbo Janet Atinuke is another prey, who fell into his trap. She was said to have  boarded his car at Berger on November 12, 2012, heading to Ibadan. On their way, he stopped at  a filling station and soon pretended that the car could not start.

Atinuke naturally stepped down to assist in pushing the car. That was the last she saw of Kazeem. He made away with her laptop, phone, SSCE Certificate, ATM card, NYSC discharge Certificate and the sum of N140, 000.00 which was allegedly withdrawn from her account with her ATM card by the suspect.

Fielding questions from journalists, Kazeem, 36, father of four said: “I met Adenike through facebook, we became friendly. She gave me her BB pin and we used to chat via BB, but she never told me that she was married! The friendship had been on for over a year before we decided to meet on February. She had been pressurising me for a job. I told her she could get a job in Abuja. I told her that she would have to buy a slot in Customs. She brought the N200, 000. On the way, I pretended that my car was faulty. I drove off. Along the way, I stopped and flung her certificate into the bush!”

Police had since combed the nooks and crannies of the bush where Kazeem claimed to have flunf away  Adenike’s certificate, but they had not been able to locate it.

Recalling the first time he was arrested for the same crime and charged to court, Kazeem said: “ I was charged to court, but the case in court dragged on for three years and I was later discharged and acquitted.”

Asked the advice he had for Nigerians, especially ladies who make friends online and accept lift from strangers, Kazeem paused for a while and then said: “ If you’re married, tell people you’re married!...as for NYSC members, they should stop accepting lift from strangers. All the money I make in this…I use it to eat.”

Adenike on the other hand, claimed that since she started her friendship with Kazeem, she had never hidden anything from her husband. According to her, it was her husband, who first raised doubt about Kazeem when he demanded for N200, 000 to give a slot in Customs to Adenike.

According to her, even on the day she was supposed to leave for Abuja with Kazeem, her husband came to see her off.

Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide said that in view of what happened to Cynthia Osokogu, she had expected ladies to be careful in dealing and chatting with people online. She also kicked against the idea of accepting lift from strangers.

“Cynthia’s incident should be a lesson to every girl!” said Braide.

 How love for boobs lands suspect in police net(part1)

He pretends to be a nice guy who would readily offer a free ride to a willing female. But he’s actually a criminal whose ploy is to rob his victims. Olalekan Kazeem is currently telling police detectives in Lagos why he’s been going about the city robbing women of their personal effects. He was arrested by the police after one of his victims sighted him in Lagos. He is currently cooling his heels in a police cell, awaiting his date with the law.

Khadijat Ope was one of his victims. Her ordeal happened on a hot, sunny Saturday in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb.
That day, she had waited without success for a commercial bus to take her to Victoria Island. Just as the she was contemplating calling a cab, a private car, a Toyota Camry, stopped and the driver offered her a ride.
The young man driving the car, later identified as Olalekan Kazeem, said he too was going to the island but that he had already missed his way.
The 23-year old student, who had gone to collect her West African Examination Council (WAEC) result, promised to guide the man.

Few minutes into their journey, Kazeem pretended that the car had developed some fault and stopped.
After alighting and examining the car, Kazeem implored the girl to assist him in pushing the car. The unsuspecting girl dropped her bag inside the car and climbed out. In the bag were her handset, some money, her identity card, a WAEC certificate and two ATM cards. But as soon as she came out of the car, Kazeem started the engine and zoomed off with Ope’s belongings.
That was not all. Through the girl’s data on her birth certificate in her bag, Kazeem got the password for the girl’s ATM card and promptly cleared her account at the First Bank.

Khadijat wasn’t the only victim. Kazeem also employed the same method to rob another lady, Jennifer Chizoba, of the sum of N150, 000 and other personal effects.
Chizoba, who spoke with Daily Sun said: “When the man picked me, he stopped on the road, saying that his vehicle was bad. He begged me to assist him in pushing the car. While I was pushing the car, the man zoomed off with my bag containing N150,000 which my relatives contributed for me to set up a business.”
Many other girls have been similarly defrauded by Kazeem. But luck recently ran out on the man who has for long made life unbearable for his victims. He’s now cooling his heels in a police cell.
Kazeem, who is currently singing like a bird at the Alapere police station was arrested when one of the victims sighted him at a car wash at the Alapere area and called in the police. He was subsequently picked up.

Recovered from him were five female handbags, 28 ATM cards, 12 identity cards, four national ID cards, two voters registration card, a Joint Matriculation Examination result, and other items.
The suspect who claimed he only targeted women told Daily Sun that he decided to start robbing them because he had earlier been robbed by a woman.
He said his journey into crime began in November last year. According to him, somebody had given him the sum of N160,000 to keep on trust at the Eko Le Meridien Hotel, Lagos.
Said he: “That day, I decided to eat at the Ocean View Restaurant. As I was eating, two beautiful young girls appeared from the blues. I approached one of them and I even paid her bill of N2, 500. I also bought drinks for them.”

‘Why I rob only women’

In his words, trouble started for him when he was fondling the breasts of one of the girls. According to him, he was sucking the girl’s breast when he slept off. He regained consciousness the following day, he said, adding that the girl might have coated her breast with a sleep-inducing drug.
While he slept, he said, the girl searched his pockets and collected all the money. She was also alleged to have taken his car keys and stole the N160, 000 inside the car.

According to him, the man who gave him the money on trust did not believe the story even after he had explained what happened and ordered Kazeem detained for a week at a police station in Abeokuta, Ogun state.
“My real predicament started when my wife came to visit me at the police station and a policeman told her how I sucked a prostitute’s breast. My wife could not take the insult, so she abandoned me to my fate.”
After his release, Kazeem said he decided to avenge his humiliation on any woman he came across. “Any time I pick a woman, I derive immense pleasure in dealing with her. I regard all my victims as prostitutes because a responsible woman would not be looking for a free ride with a total stranger,” he informed.

Kazeem has a word of advice for ladies. “They should stop looking for free ride with strangers. They should try to patronize registered taxis.”
The 37-year old Abeokuta indigene begged those he had offended to forgive him but said they should thank God that he had no gun when he was perpetrating the act as he would have used it on them.
Another victim, a model, Cynthia Kodu said the man had also applied the same method to rob her of her handbag containing handsets, N18, 000, underwear and make-up.

Lagos state police spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba said preliminary investigations have shown that the man has robbed over 30 female victims.
Mba, who said the man would soon be charged to the court, warned members of the public to stop patronizing unregistered taxis. “They should go to the recognized taxi parks to board taxis,” he said.

The medieval ‘two finger’ rape test that pours salt on Indian assault victims’ wounds

A human rights organisation has demanded the so-called 'two finger rape test' to see if a woman has been assaulted to be banned.
Activists argue the unreliable and invasive test on a rape victim is a second assault on an already traumatised woman.
The call comes days after a 23-year-old student died after being gang-raped by six men on a bus in Delhi, thrusting India's attitude to rape into the spotlight.

In a report released yesterday in India, Human Rights Watch deemed the practice as evidence of how India had failed to take rape seriously and did not consider the victim's dignity.

The test requires a doctor to insert two fingers into a women’s vagina apparently to determine whether the victims are 'virgins' or  'used to sexual intercourse.'

They believe it helps them to judge whether the hymen has been recently torn or if the women is already sexually active, but activists state this is completely unfair and unreliable as the tissue can be affected by event such as exercise which are unrelated to sexual intercourse.

The test, which appears in Indian law books is often is used by defence counsels to achieve acquittals and feeds the myth that rape survivors are loose women, according to activists. 

The Union Health Ministry decided to make the finger test optional in March 2011 stating that it should only be carried out if the doctor finds it necessary and only with the consent of the victim.

But several city hospitals are still practising the test on rape victims who are unaware they are required to consent to it.

'The ground reality is that doctors at city hospitals not only conduct these tests on rape survivors without consent, but also pass derogatory remarks while doing so,' said activist Bharti Ali to The New Indian Express.

A rape survivor told the newspaper she was made to sleep on the floor of a city hospital for almost two days after the invasive test was conducted on her.

'Police took me to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital after the attack. Doctors there didn’t inform me the test was optional, and just conducted it. If I ever had any idea it was optional, I’d never have gone through it. This was the most embarrassing moment in my life,' she said.

There is so much confusion on the ban on the two-finger test, that even some police authorities are not aware of new guidelines.

When the newspaper asked a A Delhi police official in charge of rape cases why he allows doctors to carry out the test he told the reporter: 'Without the test, how will one know if the person has been raped or not?'

The bus gang-rape incident has forced India to confront the reality that sexually-assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, forcing them to keep quiet and discouraging them from reporting it to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule.

Women face daily harassment across India, ranging from catcalls on the streets, groping and touching in public transport, to rape.

Government data show the number of reported rape cases in the country rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.

Rape victims rarely press charges because of social stigma and fear they will be accused of inviting the attack.

Many women say they structure their lives around protecting themselves and their daughters from attack.

Dailymail.co.uk

Inside Brazil's hellish shantytown streets: Crack cocaine skid row where users steal, prostitute themselves, and pick through the trash to get their next fix

Social worker with an addict

With a boom in crack use over the past decade, Brazilian authorities are struggling to stop the drug's spread, sparking a debate over the legality and efficiency of forcibly interning users. 

Brazil today is the world's largest consumer of both cocaine and its crack derivative, according to the Federal University of Sao Paolo.

About 6million adults, or 3 percent of Brazilians, have tried cocaine in some form.

Rio de Janeiro has taken the lead in trying to help the burgeoning number of users with an approach that city leaders call proactive, but critics pan as unnecessarily aggressive.
As of May 2011, users living in the streets have been scooped up in pre-dawn raids by teams led by the city's welfare department in conjunction with police and health care workers.
By December 5, 582 people had been picked up, including 734 children.

Bobo

Add caption

Bobo, a former soldier, has a method: Cocaine gets him through the day, when he cruises with a wheelbarrow around a slum on Rio's west side, sorting through trash for recyclables to sell. At night, he turns the day's profit into crack.

'Sometimes I don't sleep at all; I'm up 24 hours,' says Bobo, who doesn't use his given name for safety reasons. 'I work to support my addiction, but I only use crack at night. That drug takes my mind away. I lose all notion of what I'm doing.'

Bobo says balancing crack with cocaine keeps him working and sane.

On the shantytown's streets, life can be hell: Addicts unable to strike Bobo's precarious balance use crack day and night, begging, stealing, prostituting themselves, and picking through trash to make enough for the next hit.

For them, there's no going home, no job, nothing but the drug.

The sight is gut-wrenching. While some people go meekly, many fight, cry, scream out in desperation in their altered states.

Once they're gone, their ratty mattresses, pans, sweaters and few other possessions are swept up by a garbage removal company.

Adults can't be forced to stay in treatment, and most leave the shelters within three days. But children are kept in treatment against their will or returned to parents if they have a family. In December, 119 children were being held in specialized treatment units.

Demand for crack has boomed in recent years and open-air 'cracolandias,' or 'crack lands,' popped up in the urban centers of Rio and Sao Paulo, with hundreds of users gathering to smoke the drug. 

The federal government announced in early 2012 that more than $2 billion would be spent to fight the epidemic, allotting money to train health care workers, buy thousands of hospital and shelter beds, and create transitional centers for recovering users.

Mobile street units stationed near cracolandias are among the most important and visible aspects of the government's approach.

The units, housed in metal containers, bring doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers to the areas where users concentrate.

Slowly, by offering health care and other help, the units' workers gain the trust of users and refer them to treatment centers.

Studies suggest the approach can work: 47 percent of the crack users surveyed in Sao Paulo said they'd welcome treatment, according to the Federal University of Sao Paulo study.

Demand for crack has boomed, and open-air cracolandias, or 'crack lands,' popped up in the urban centers of Rio and Sao Paulo, with hundreds of users gathering to smoke the drug.

Ethel Vieira, a psychologist on the raid team, thinks their persistence is paying off.

'Initially, they'd run away, react aggressively, throw rocks,' she said of users.

'Now most of them understand our intention is to help, to give them a chance to leave the street and to connect with the public health network.'

Human rights groups object to the forced commitment of children, saying treatment delivered against the will of patients is ineffective. They also oppose the sweeps, which they describe as violent.

'There are legal procedures that must be followed and that are not being followed.

This goes against the law and is unconstitutional,' Margarida Pressburguer, head of the Human Rights Commission for Brazil's Association of Attorneys, said during a debate last year.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes suggested in October that the city would start forcing adults into treatment.

'A crack addict isn't capable of making decisions,' Paes said from the Jacarezinho shantytown in the week after police stormed the area and seized control of what was then Rio's largest cracolandia.

The Rio state Attorney General's Office responded by telling city officials 'the compulsory removal of adults living in the streets has no legal foundation.'

It said adults can be committed only when they become a danger to themselves or others and outpatient treatment options have run out.

'They give us a place to sleep, food, clothes, everything,' said Bobo. 'I've been picked up by the city and I liked it. They are doing this for our good.'

But even as Bobo endorsed the city's approach, a friend was stepping over to the drug stand for more cocaine. Bobo asked for $5 worth of drugs — cocaine for now, crack for later. Then he rolled up a bill and dumped a small mound of white powder in his palm for snorting.

With a nose full of cocaine, he set off, ready for another day.

Dailymail.co.uk