Facebook lover gets new trial date

 

A Nigerian court has fixed 18 January to commence trial of Arthur Obiora, “the Facebook lover’’, charged with attempted rape and causing his victim bodily injury.
Martins Owumi, the judge at Tinubu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, adjourned the case when it was called for mention at the resumed hearing.
Obiora, 26, who is facing charges of threat to life, attempted rape and causing bodily harm, allegedly sexually assaulted Nkiruka Akabuogu, 21.
The Facebook lover was first arraigned on 9 November. He pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him.
On that day, the prosecutor, ASP A. C. Orji, had told the court that Obiora met Akabuogu, an undergraduate in the Department of Linguistics, University of Lagos, on Facebook, a social media network.
He said that the accused subsequently invited her to a nightclub in Apapa on 31 October after which they retired to his home at Block 10, Flat 317, 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Orji said Obiora, who claimed to be an unemployed graduate of Igbinedion University, Okada and the Centennial College, Ontario, Canada, shut all the doors in the apartment and demanded to have sex with Akabuogu.
“He tried to rape her and threatened to kill her with a bottle of beer when she refused.
“The girl, fearing for her life, then jumped down from the third floor of the high-rise building,” Orji said.
The prosecutor said that the incident happened at about 3:00 a.m. on Oct. 31.
“Nkiruka was discovered lying unconscious in a pool of her own blood about 30 minutes later by security men in the premises, who then reported the incident to the police.
“The police took the girl to a hospital and after she regained consciousness, obtained her statement,’’ Orji said.
Akabuogu sustained multiple injuries, including a fractured pelvis, and is undergoing treatment at the General Hospital, Marina, Lagos.
Orji said that the offences contravened Sections 56 (A), 260 and 404 (1) of the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos 2011.
The magistrate had granted the accused bail in the sum of N200,000, with two sureties in like sum.
In a related case, two persons, Messrs Okwumo Nwabufo and Olisaeloka Ezike, are being tried in connection with the murder of Cynthia Osokogu, met on Facebook and lured to Lagos in July