The victim, Eunice Adigwe, who trades on palm oil as well as Banga seeds, was said to have been raped by the dirty-looking suspected mad man, who was clad in Agbada and Buba Shokoto, in the early hours of Thursday while she busy attending to a customer in the market.
It was gathered that the suspect allegedly pounced on the woman to forcefully remove her wrapper and underwear, as his actions held onlookers spell bound while the attempt by him to get into the woman lasted.
Unfortunately for the woman, she fell to the ground shouting for help and was rescued by security agents who in the process gave the suspect severe beating before he let his hands off the woman’s body.
Police officers at the “A”Division police station, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to journalists who rushed to the scene, said, “the suspect got the beating of his life as he refused to let go of the woman. We had to tear gas him before he stood up from the woman’s body after removing her clothes forcefully. We observed the suspect was talking none stop and meaninglessly, and we suspect something was wrong. We however saved the woman and took her away for treatment”.
An eyewitness, Maureen Ebele, told newsmen that “the man in Buba Shokoto and Agbada clothes suddenly pounced on the woman as she bend down from behind to remove her clothes, she started shouting but for fear of the suspect nobody came close. Thank God for the security agents who had to tear gas him as he fell on the woman on the ground before the woman was let off the hook. It was like a drama”.
Ogbueshi Frank Odare, who also spoke to journalists, described the act as a taboo, adding that the suspect may not have been mad but had a mission to accomplish.
He explained, “Why was the woman alone? was the man really mad? we need to investigate the situation very well before we can make definite pronouncement, but it is a taboo on the part of the woman.”
While the drama lasted, there was uproar and wailing by hundreds of the market traders who screamed along with the victim before help came through the security agents after the victim had allegedly suffered the untold disgrace in the hands of the suspected insane man.
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The Delta state Commissioner of Police, Mustafa Muhammad, while speaking with journalists on the incident, said, “the suspect’s action clearly shows he is sick as reported by officers at the “A” Division in charge of the area. The suspect was very dirty and he was sent away after the woman was rescued from his hands. The whole thing was like a mystery in the open market place, the officers said they found packets of cigarettes in his pocket, some of which he had smoked.”
