VICTIM BITES ROBBER TO SUBMISSION

Like the proverbial hunter that became hunted, an armed robbery
suspect has told how he narrowly escaped death in the handsof his
victim. A four-armed robbery gang had invaded the premises of a
powerful politician in Lagos. The incident got to the attention of the
state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko who swiftly ordered the
officer in charge of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Abba Keyari
to fish out the hoodlums.


The efforts of the police paid off as they arrested the suspects. One
of the suspects in an interview with Crimewatch denied using gun to
attack the politician.


He said: "Really, we attacked the man but the man was too strong to
defeat. We used pliersto break the kitchen window protector and gained
entry. We started packing his laptop, phones and other things." "As we
were packing his things, the man woke up and grabbed me. He was too
strong for me to handle, so he started beating me. He did not stop at
hitting me, he also bit me.


His teeth were shaper than knife. He was biting me like a wounded
lion. In fact, that man is a lion. He is too powerful. As he was
hitting and biting me, I was shouting for helpbut my colleagues
abandoned me. "How I managed to escape, I cannot tell. I was half
dead.


When I left the house. If the man had beaten me more than he did, I
would have died. He istoo strong so, that is why I am saying no to the
claim by the police that we were armed, ifwe had a gun, we would have
fired him, rather we escaped from him." Showing some wounds on his
body, he said, "look at my body, all the injuries were from the man.
He even injured me on my penis. He beat me black and blue."


On who owned the locally made pistol the police claimed they recovered
from him, he said: "I am not saying that I don't have a gun at home, I
have but I don't use it for robbery. I only use it to protect myself
at home. For that robbery, I swear to my ancestors, we didnot use gun
that day." His suspected accomplice, Sheidu Busari, who the police
named as the leader of the gang, corroborated Jimo's story, "we did
not use gun that day but my friend Jimo has a gun, but we did not go
with it that fateful day. We only used big pliers to break through the
window.


We gained entry but when the man grabbed Jimo, and he was shouting
like a baby, I thought the man has stabbed him or had charmed him so I
took to my heels. I did not know it was ordinary biting that was
scaring Jimo. Jimo (Jamio) used to be strong that waswhy I was
confused and scared when he wascrying like a baby."


Busari who was just released from the prisons for the same armed
robbery, said "I was only sent to prison for buying a stolen phone but
my elder brother later bought my freedom with N200,000." On why he
went back to crime he said, "don't you know that Christmas is fast
approaching. I need money for Christmas so, when we got information
that the man we attacked was wealthy, I had no alternative than to go
for the robbery."


He regretted that the operation was not all that successful. "I swear,
the robbery was a bad one. We did not make money, yet, it brought
another trouble to me. See now, I will be spending the Christmas in
the prison." Lagos State police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, said one
locally-made pistol with six rounds of live cartridges, one HP Laptop,
and one Nokia 200 were recovered from the suspects.