Tears, Blood & Sorrow, As Woman Kills Eight With SUV

Tragedy struck on Ilaje Road, in the Bariga area of Lagos
State, after a female motorist in a LandCruiser Sport Utility Vehicle crushed
eight pedestrians to death. It was gathered that among the dead were a pregnant
woman, two siblings, an old woman and a man returning from his place of work.

Several others were also said to have sustained varying
degrees of injuries, including fractures and broken limbs in the Saturday
incident which happened around 9pm.

Punch correspondents gathered that the driver of the
yet-to-be-identified woman had left the vehicle for her near Majok Filling
Station on Ilaje Road and had left for his house. The woman, said to be staying
on Adebisi Street, had barely taken the wheels to drive the SUV home when the
incident occurred.

The vehicle reportedly surged forward, crushing pedestrians
and killing four of them on the spot.

A set of nine injured people were reportedly taken to the Gbagada
General Hospital, among whom two died; while another set of seven casualties
were later recovered.

It was learnt that two more corpses were found in the gutter
on Sunday morning. Angry youths were said to have gone to the scene and dragged
the woman out of the SUV and beaten her up.

She was about to be lynched when some policemen from the
Bariga Police Division intervened.

Punch Metro learnt that the suspect was to celebrate her
birthday on Sunday and was going home to make preparations for the event before
the incident.

When Punch correspondents visited the area on Monday, about
20 okada riders (motorcyclists) besieged the police station to demand the
corpses of two of the people who were killed in the accident.

A resident, identified as Iya Oyinbo, said the vehicle
seemed to have had a brake failure.

She said, “The woman was driven to the Majok Filling Station
by her driver after which the man left for his house and the woman moved to the
driver’s seat to drive the vehicle home. What we saw was that the SUV suddenly
surged forward and hit a pedestrian at the filling station.

“The vehicle also moved from there to hit some pedestrians
by the roadside. It was three stationary faulty cars at the end of the Ilaje
Road which eventually stopped the SUV.

“Four persons were crushed and they died instantly,
including a woman, who was pregnant, and was taken inside a Keke Napep. On
Sunday, two other hospitalised victims died.”

Another witness, Raheem Banji, said the corpses of two
motorcyclists were found the following morning in the gutter where the SUV had
flung them.

He said, “There were two okada riders who fell inside a
gutter on that day. It was on Sunday that we found them. After the accident,
youths gathered and began to beat up the woman for being careless. The mob
wanted to destroy the car, but for the arrival of the policemen who saved her.”

A Keke Marwa driver, Laide Olakune, said he was lucky to
have escaped, adding that his tricycle was badly damaged by the vehicle.

Olakunle said he was taking four passengers to the Ebute
area, when the tricycle was hit and they all fell into the gutter.

“Although my tricycle was damaged, neither me nor any of my
passengers sustained injuries. The police wanted to take away my tricycle as
part of evidence, but I refused because I need to repair it and put it back on
the road so I can make a living,” he said.

A police source said the female driver, who was rescued with
injuries, was recuperating in a private hospital in the area.

He said, “The woman is wealthy, and she was to celebrate her
birthday on Sunday. The mob stripped her to the underwear and beat her up. She
is recuperating in a hospital; her husband has showed up at the police station.

“There was no pregnant woman in the incident. The victim had
Fibroid, and looked as if she was pregnant. The police will invite the driver
after her treatment.”