TRACKING___A herdsman who was arrested for allegedly raping a pregnant woman in Ryom local government area of Plateau State, has confessed that he committed the act because the husband of the woman killed his cow.
The suspect, Nura Umaru, was arrested by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Plateau State Police Command, after he had been on the run for four months.
He was arrested in his hideout in Bauchi State where he had escaped to and taken back to the Plateau State Police Force Headquarters in Jos, where he confessed to his crimes.
While he was paraded at the police headquarters, Umaru said the victim’s husband dared him when he killed his cow and he had vowed to revenge the death of his beloved animal.
“Yes, I raped the pregnant woman because her husband offended me by killing one of my cows.
There was a day I took my cattle to graze in an empty field close to his farm and he warned me never to come to the area to graze again.
I told him that I would not allow my cattle to enter into his farmland and pleaded with him to allow me graze my cattle in peace as I did not want to have any problem with him or with anyone.
But he kept harassing me and I had to move my cattle away from the area. A few days later, I took my cattle out to graze but I met the same man working on another of his farms and he shouted at me that he had warned me never to come there again.
I shouted back at him and he said he was going to deal with me and brought out his cutlass and slashed at one of my cows, killing it on the spot. I went after him but he ran away and I vowed to do something that will also hurt him.
I knew the man very well and I also knew that his wife was pregnant at that time, so I vowed to rape her anytime I had the chance.
My chance came some weeks later when I saw the woman going to pluck some tomatoes one morning and luckily, she was alone, so I followed her to the farm and kidnapped her.
I took her into the bush and raped her three times. She was begging me that she was pregnant but I told her that her husband had killed my own cow without mercy, so I would not have mercy on her.
She was bleeding while I was raping her but I did not care. She was shedding the same blood my cow was shedding, so I did not bother about the blood.
When I was done, I told her to go and tell her husband what I did not her. Then I escaped to my hometown in Bauchi State where I have been hiding until the police came to arrest me.
My only regret is that the woman lost her baby and she suffered for what her husband did but I just had to avenge the death of my cow which meant so much to me.”
The suspect, according to the police command, will be charged to court at the end of investigation and will be charged for kidnapping, rape and second degree murder of the dead baby.
