AirAsia: Relatives faint as rescuers recover 40 corpses

‘PAPA, please come home. ‘I still need you.’
This was the heartbreaking message posted on the social media on Tuesday by Angela Ranastianis, the daughter of Captain Iriyanto, the pilot of the ill-fated AirAsia plane   which disappeared on Sunday morning.

Angela certainly was not aware that rescue teams had retrieved and tallied a grim inventory of bodies and debris from the plane off the coast of southwestern Borneo in Indonesia.
She had also posted Iriyanto’s picture on the social media hours after her grandfather, said the last time he saw his son was at the funeral of his other son who died of diabetes last week.

The recovery of about 40 bodies and items belonging to the 162 people aboard the plane coincided with reports that another AirAsia aircraft with 153 passengers and crew   overshot the runway at an airport in the Philippines, forcing passengers to make an urgent exit on emergency slides.
Indonesian navy spokesman Manahan Simorangkir had earlier on Tuesday told the Agence France Presse that, “Based on the navy radio, it has been reported that the warship Bung Tomo has retrieved 40 bodies and the number is growing.”

Search and rescue teams said that three items in particular — the suitcase and parts they identified as an aspirator assembly and a reservoir slide craft — helped them determine that the debris came from Flight 8501.
They added that the pieces of the wreckage were found about 60 miles southeast of the last known position of the plane — the opposite direction from the jet’s path, a fact that was not explained.
The teams also spotted what they said might be a larger submerged piece of the fuselage of the Airbus A320-200, which was operated by the Indonesian affiliate of AirAsia.

An Indonesian television station showed uncensored footage of some corpses floating in the sea, causing the victims’ relatives – who were watching live reports at crisis-centre at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya – to burst into tears, with some fainting and requiring hospital treatment.
The television station also showed a rescuer descending from a helicopter toward a corpse, which like other bodies found was not wearing a life jacket.
Throughout Tuesday afternoon,   authorities built up an inventory of debris collected by ships and helicopters from the sea surface, including life vests, aircraft parts and what appeared to be a small blue suitcase.

Indonesia’s President, Joko Widodo, who met with families of the   victims at the crisis centre, said, “I am so very sorry for this accident. I hope families can stay strong while facing the tragedy.”
Also, the Head of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, said, “My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501.”
He added in   a Twitter message soon after the debris was discovered, that   “words cannot express how sorry I am.”
Fernandes said later that he did not want to speculate about the cause of the disaster until the plane’s flight data recorders were recovered and analysed.
But he noted that “bad weather is the short-term conclusion — weather in Southeast Asia is bad now.”

Some of the relatives of passengers stood despondently outside the airport in Surabaya with one of them, Ifan Joko, saying, I’m still hoping my brother is safe.”
His brother, Charly Gunawan, who was travelling to Singapore to spend the New Year’s holiday, was among the 162 people onboard.
“If the passengers are dead, I want the bodies brought back to Surabaya,” Ifan said. “I will pay the bill myself if I have to.”

The crash was a particular loss to Surabaya’s ethnic Chinese community. Flights from Surabaya to Singapore serve as shuttles for residents who do business in Singapore or have family members there.
The air disaster seems to have also disproportionately affected Surabaya’s Christian community.
Leaders of Bethany, a massive, three-storey mega-church in a wealthy neighbourhood on the outskirts of Surabaya, pored over the plane’s manifest when it became available on Sunday and determined that at least five passengers were members of families who attend the church.
Deddy, one of the church pastors, said the crash was a tragedy for all of Indonesia. But, he said, “We can guess from the names that many are Christian and Chinese.”

On   Tuesday near crash, AirAsia said no passenger and crew member was hurt.
The statement reads, ‘AirAsia Philippines confirms flight Z2 272 from Manila skidded off the Kalibo International Airport runway at 5.43pm upon landing. All 153 passengers and crew were able to disembark safely, no injuries reported.’
‘All passengers are now at a hotel assisted by AirAsia staff.”

Source: Punch

Police accuse 22 -year-old varsity dropout of killing dad

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested 22-year-old Oluwaropo Tifase, for allegedly killing his father, Moses Tifase, in the Mile 2 area of the state.

Our correspondent learnt that Oluwaropo, who is the fifth child and only son of the family, had had clashes with his parents in the past over financial issues.

According to the police, Oluwaropo, a suspected cultist, was rusticated from a university in Ondo State, a few years ago for some cult-related offences.

PUNCH Metro gathered that 75-year-old Moses, a retired mechanical engineer, was stabbed to death in the neck with a pair of scissors.

 

The Tifases, who hail from Imesi Ile, Osun State, were living in an apartment in Block 285, Jakande Estate, Mile 2, Lagos.

It was learnt that Oluwaropo allegedly sneaked into his father’s bedroom to carry out the act on December 6.

In her statement to the police, Oluwaropo’s mother, Funmilayo, said the family and neighbours discovered Moses lying dead in a pool of blood.

The 65-year-old added that Oluwaropo had violent tendencies as he once manhandled her during an argument.

She said, “Oluwaropo is our last child and son. He has four sisters. He and his immediate elder sister stay with us in the house. The elderly ones have got married and left. He usually slept in my room. On the evening before that incident, I told him to go and lock our door. He did that and we all slept.

“But when I woke up at dawn, I discovered he was no longer in my room. When I came to the sitting room, I did not find him either. After a while, I heard footsteps in the passage, and it was him. He was shocked to find me in the sitting room. I asked him where he was coming from; he said he heard some strange footsteps and went to check who it was, but he found nothing.

“The mistake I made was that I did not check his father’s room at that time. It was in the morning that we discovered that Moses had been killed in his room, and surprisingly, our house was not broken into.”

Our correspondent learnt that the neighbours reported the incident at the FESTAC Police Division. The police arrested the three family members –Funmilayo, Oluwaropo and his sister– for questioning.

PUNCH Metro gathered that preliminary police investigations showed that Moses was killed by his son ─ Oluwaropo. However, it was learnt that the suspect had yet to confess to the crime.

It was learnt that Moses had returned from Nasarawa State, where he worked, to Lagos around July this year.

The family reportedly put pressure on their father to come back to Lagos as his work was not going smoothly over there.

When our correspondent visited the family’s apartment on Monday, the doors were locked and dusty. A neighbour, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that since the incident, the family had not been seen in the apartment.

She said, “The boy had always been rude. The way he usually argued with his aged parents was baffling.

“Since he was rusticated from school, he had been doing some casual work at a warehouse in Apapa. Then on the fateful day, the shocking incident happened.

“Since that time, the police arrested all the family. I have not noticed anyone in the apartment ever since.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrest.

He added that the police were still carrying out investigations on the matter.

He said, “The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department, Yaba, where further investigation is being carried out.”

Source: Punch

MESSY MURDER

■ Boyfriend fingered for death of mother of 4
■ My wife engaged in infidelity, husband alleges

Almost four weeks after 3 5 – y e a r – o l d Martha Ifeo¬ma Ifewulu was grue¬somely murdered in her home in the Oke- Afa area of Lagos, on December 1, more facts have emerged on her death.
Her grieving husband, Chief Lawrence Ugochuk¬wu Ifewulu, has given an indication that she may have been killed by her boyfriend, who he sus¬pects could have done so to prevent her from divulg¬ing their plans to kill him, dispose off his assets and elope to Canada with his children.
Still beset by the shock of discovering the corpse of his wife who was pre¬paring to go out as he left the house to visit a clinic for some medical test, If¬ewulu accused his wife of infidelity.

When the incident first happened, Ifewulu had been reluctant to voice his suspicions in an earlier in¬terview with Sunday Sun, but having had time to re¬flect on the days, weeks and months that preceded the unfortunate incident, If¬ewulu gave reasons for his strong suspicion that one Collins, the alleged boy¬friend of his wife, killed her.

Explaining the basis for his suspicion, he told Sun¬day Sun: “Remember I did not complete a statement I made while speaking with you when this incident happened. I wanted to be sure of what I was going to say, though I had no two persons I hold as prime sus¬pects. I am not having any doubt or maybe suspecting any two or three people. Even if he did not execute it by himself, he sent some people to carry out the op¬eration. I am quite sure of who killed my wife; he is responsible. This is beyond suspicion. This guy went as far as telling me that he had been dating my wife for two years. He went as far as telling me that if they kill me, they would sell my house and then he would take her and the kids to Canada. After all he told me about all that had been transpiring between my wife and himself, he ex¬pected me to divorce my wife but I did not do so. He would have thought that so many things were hidden and that if I should con¬tinue to live with my wife, she would tell me all and he would not be safe any¬more.”

“I gave the name of the person I am suspecting to them (the police) and I even wrote that in my statement. See the person I suspected, from day one (showing a picture). This is my wife beside him. This picture was downloaded from Facebook. We were only able to get this because the person that saw it saved it and after he copied the picture from Facebook, he said that he could no longer see it there some days after. It had been removed from Facebook.”

When asked what rela¬tionship existed between Collins and his wife, If¬ewulu did not hesitate to say: “He was her boy¬friend. That is why I said my wife killed herself. The people that brought the pic¬ture from Facebooksaid this boy (Collins) made a comment, “Perfect Match” against the picture of him¬self and my wife which he posted on Facebook.”
The said picture, Sun¬day Sun gathered, was taken when Ifeoma (the de¬ceased) and Collins attend¬ed the burial of her mother, which was held in October this year.
“From the very first day I saw her corpse, I said it even to the face of one of her siblings that she killed herself. I am not in doubt over what I am saying because of all that trans¬pired,” lamented Ifewulu.

“I can remember that he (the suspect) gave me a call on the last Saturday of Oc¬tober, this same year, and from what he told me, they had been going out for two years. My wife opened up when I told her that I would forgive her for anything she must have done wrong. He belongs to this syndicate of boys who prey on mar¬ried women and tell them lies about their husbands and before you know it, the women have put them-selves in bondage,” he added.
The late Ifeoma is yet to be buried. It was gath¬ered that the autopsy was performed as part of the ongoing police investiga¬tion. The relations of the deceased have been very helpful in the ongoing in¬vestigation to fish out the suspect.

Hear Ifewulu again: “Her family has been cooperating. Even the brother of my wife knows this guy but he knows him as one of my workers. We went to meet his (the suspect’s town union here in Lagos and they promised that they would pass the in¬formation to the people in the village so that his people can come and answer. The police have even invited the caretaker of the house where he was living to make a state¬ment.”

Sympathizers have con¬tinued to throng the home of Ifewulu and express their shock over the mur¬der. “The woman was a very good woman,” re¬vealed a passerby who spoke to Sunday Sun.
Further findings revealed that the deceased had on several occasions sent the two maids living with the family to deliver both food and money to the suspect whose house was not far from that of the Ifewulus.

On the fateful day of the incident on December 1, the corpse of late Ifeoma was discovered by her maid who had just come back from school with the children at 3.30pm. As they got into the house through the rear staircase, the maid and the children were confronted by the sight of blood splatered all over the floor, and flowing freely down the stairs. The maid tiptoed upstairs won¬dering where the blood had come from. It was then that she and the children saw the dead body of Ifeoma sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood. The maid raised the alarm that at¬tracted the attention of their female neighbour. The sight of Ifeoma with the silky-soft skin of her throat hideously slashed with a knife as one would do to a goat was gut-wrenching. The female neighbour equally screamed upon sighting the corpse. It was long sustained for help that brought other neighbours from nearby house rushing into the compound to know what was amiss. They too were shocked to the mar¬row. While still sobbing, the female neighbour called Ifewulu on the phone, and frantically urged him to rush back home immedi¬ately, but the neighbour kept him in the dark about the death of his wife. All the way home, Ifewulu wondered what could have happened. It was when If¬ewulu got home at 5.00pm that he was told about the murder of his wife. Soon after the chairman of the estate called the DPO of Ejigbo Police Division and informed him about the incident, and the police rushed to the scene within 30 minutes.

Until her death, Ifeoma was a staunch member of the Noble Fitness Club of Nigeria and was said to be so committed to keeping fit that she never missed her training sessions for any¬thing.
Meanwhile, police sources told Sunday Sun that investigation in the case was ongoing, but added that no suspect had yet been arrested. While the police go through the painstaking process of in¬vestigating the murder, the four bereaved children of the couple – Chidera, Ugochuchukwu, Mesioma and Onyinyechi – are still overcome by grief. Truly, this year’s Christmas sea¬son may rightly go down as the darkest since they were born and may remain so for long.
Source: The Sun

Assassins killed Akure doctor, set body ablaze — Family

The family of Dr. David Akintayo Oguntuase, Head of Paediatrics at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, who was found dead on his clinic in Akure, Ondo State, after it was razed by fire in the eve of Christmas, has said the medical practitioner was murdered.

The Universal Medical Clinic owned by Oguntuase was in flames when residents were in festive mood and by the time the bellows of fire and smoke died down, Dr. Oguntuase was found dead.
While the police in Ondo are still examining the different theories to unravelling the cause of the fire, the deceased’s family has concluded that the medical practitioner was killed by assassins and burnt to give a semblance of a fire accident.

The older brother of the deceased, Ben Oguntuase, in a statement made available to our correspondent on Friday, said, a thorough examination of the debris of the hospital and the site of the incident revealed trails left behind by the murderers and how they accomplished the dastardly act.
“They shot him in the main clinic area and carried his body to the room in the back area where they left him face down. Not done, they severed his hands and legs before proceeding to douse the body with petrol.

“The rest of the building on the inside was sprinkled with petrol before it was all set ablaze. It inferno made the building implode as the roof caved in,” the senior Oguntuase said.
He noted that the fire did not affect other surrounding buildings, suggesting that the killing was professionally plotted and executed.

Explaining the premise on which his theory was based, Oguntuase said the walls of the clinic were stained with blood showing that his brother was attacked and dragged to the place where he was eventually burnt.
He also explained that the walls of the fence showed marks of the feet of the assailants as they climbed to escape through the fence, and that the keg with which they brought petrol was left behind at their exit point.

“This case has gone beyond mere speculation into the realm of reality as to where the police should focus their searchlight to unearth the criminals and their sponsor,” he said.
Oguntuase also rejected the theories of suicide or fire accident caused by a gas explosion, saying the doctor’s body was dismembered before it was set ablaze. He added that there was enough evidence at the crime scene to assist the investigation of the police.

He said the family called on the police to investigate the matter.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Wole Ogodo, said although the command had yet to get a full briefing on the development, the family would be required to come up with substantial evidences supporting their position.

“The family will come up with the evidences they have and we can assure you that we will bring the fellow involved to book. Once we get the necessary information, we will not hesitate to do our part,” Ogodo said.
Source: Punch

How we get male sex organ for money ritual -Suspect

 ■ Confession of 23-yr-old prostitute whose gang specialises in cutting off victims’ manhood during sex
She looked innocent, but scared. Uche Agunta, the 23-year-old lady does far bigger things and more daring adventures than can be attributed to her age. Today, the young lady is a tragic guest of the Imo State Police Command. She is held be­cause she is a point woman of a syndi­cate that specialises in hunting for male organs for money ritual. She did not deny the central role she and her other female members play of the ring. In fact, as she admitted, her method is to lure men into sexual act and at the height of ecstasy, she would sneak out razor blade and cut off her partner’s manhood.

Also, by her admission, she had har­vested about seven male private parts be­fore the long arm of the law caught up with her. All of these bizarre incidents, she said, happened in an Owerri hotel. But this fate­ful day, mother-luck went on a long jour­ney and she was left to face nemesis. She had, as she was used to doing, seduced this 38-year-old man (name withheld) and the man took her to the same hotel in Owerri. While they were having sex – in the heat of passion – according to her, she brought out a razor-blade and started cutting the man savagely. But the victim was quick to scream, raising the alarm. Otherwise, she would have succeeded in cutting off his manhood – as in her previous escapades.

The suspect, Uche, told her story: “I am a prostitute and I smoke. I have a gang and we specialise in sleeping with men and cut­ting their manhood during sex. We use the manhood for money rituals. I have killed seven men in the hotel in Owerri. They had sex with me after they have paid me N3, 000 or N5, 000. I would be on top of the man and in the process I would bring out blade and cut off his manhood”.

“I do hand over the manhood to our gang leader. They always promise to pay us N150, 000 for each manhood we could sup­ply, and which they used for money ritual.”
Uche, who hails from Mbaitoli Local Government Area, said she is a secondary school dropout. “I dropped out at JSS 3. I stopped going to school when I lost my fa­ther, but my mother is still alive. I joined a gang where some ladies initiated me into a cult. Our main concern is going after male organ for ritual.”

And their main strategy is doing that through prostitution. Uche said she has had three births and that she has sold two of the children. “I have given birth to three children. I sold the first and second children for N200, 000 each. The third child is a boy and he is staying with my mother”, she said.
She said she met her last victim last month, which now seems to have ended her sordid career. She told Saturday Sun: “On November 2014, the man met me at Oyima Street, Owerri. He gave me N2,000 to have sex with me. It was around 3.00pm. The victim took me to the hotel in Owerri and he was having sex with me.”

“I was on top of him and when he was enjoying it, I brought out my blade and I started cutting his manhood. But it hadn’t cut off when he started to shout for help. Then they came to arrest me and he was rushed to the hospital. I was arrested and I have confessed to the police.”
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdulmajid Ali confirmed to this pa­per that the suspect, with her syndicate, is a prostitution ring. He confirmed that when they take a man to the hotel, the aim would be to cut off his manhood, and that they car­ry out the act when the man is at the peak of ecstasy during sex.
He stated that the suspect, Uche, had confessed to the police that the syndicate had killed over seven men in the hotel. “She said they have cut the manhood of the men and used them for rituals to enable them to have money,” Ali explained.
The police boss stated that luck ran against the suspect when she wanted to cut off the manhood of her eighth victim in an Owerri hotel. “The young man was hav­ing sex with her and she brought out the blade and was about cutting off his man­hood, but immediately the victim’s man­hood was about to be cut, he shouted and this prompted the security men and police­men to arrest her in the hotel and the victim was rushed to the hospital,” said the CP.

Ali said the officer in charge of surveil­lance, Supol Imo Ignatius, with his team, arrested the lady and that she is now at the Anti-kidnapper custody.
Incidentally, the victim happens to be an Anti-kidnapper officer. He told Saturday Sun: “I took the suspect to the hotel and I paid her N2, 000 for sex. The suspect was on top of me and suddenly she brought out a blade and almost cut off my manhood. Blood was gushing out and I started shout­ing, then the hotel staff came in and the po­lice arrested her.

“I was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. I am still receiving treatment. I thank God. My manhood could have been cut off; it remained just a little.”
CP Ali said that the police are still after the other members of the syndicate and that the suspect will soon be charged to court. He, therefore, warned those who are in the habit of carrying strange women for sex to be careful, noting that these days, some young girls do the most unthinkable things for money.
Source: The Sun

MY PARENTS VOLUNTEERED ME, SAYS 14-YEAR-OLD KANO SUICIDE BOMBER

A 14-year-old Nigerian girl who was arrested with explosives strapped to her body told journalists Wednesday that her parents volunteered her to take part in a suicide attack.

The girl, who was identified as Zahra’u Babangida, was arrested in Kano on December 10 following a double suicide bombing in a market that killed 10 people.
She was presented to journalists by police and instructed to recount how Islamist militants allegedly forced her to take part in the attack.

She said her mother and father, both Boko Haram sympathisers, took her to an insurgent hideout in a forest near the town of Gidan Zana in Kano state.
She said one alleged militant leader asked her whether she knew what a suicide bombing was.
“They said, ‘Can you do it?’ I said no.
“They said, ‘You will go to heaven if you do it.’ I said ‘No I can’t.’ They said they would shoot me or throw me into a dungeon,” Zahra’u told journalists.

There was no way to independently verify her story and she had no lawyer present. No information was available concerning the whereabouts of her parents.
Police said they had instructed the girl to tell her story to boost public awareness about those responsible for the December 10 attack.
Faced with the threat of death, Zahra’u said she finally agreed to take part in the attack but “never had any intention of doing it.”

Several days later, Zahra’u said, she and three other girls, all wearing explosives, were brought to the Kantin Kwari market by unidentified men.
Zahra’u said she was injured when one of the girls detonated her bomb and then she fled the scene, ending up at a hospital on the outskirts of Kano where she was discovered to be carrying explosives.
Boko Haram has increasingly used female suicide bombers, including teenagers, as part of their five-year insurgency.

Kano, the largest city in the mainly Muslim north, saw four such attacks in one week in July, while similar bombings have hit the states of Bauchi and Niger.
Experts say the group has used girls as bombers to demonstrate the range of tactics they have available to sow fear across Nigeria.

If confirmed, Zahra’u’s story would be the first known case of parents volunteering their daughter to take part in a deadly attack.
Violence in northern Nigeria has intensified in recent months, raising security fears ahead of February 14 elections.
Source: Vanguard