Tobi Ijalana
Mother of Barakat Bello, a young lady raped and murdered in Oyo State on June 1, has spoken on the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
According to the woman, Mrs Kafayat Bello, she was not at home the day the robbers struck, stole their property, raped Barakat and eventually murdered her.
In an interview with BBC, she said she met her in a pool of blood when she returned home.
Barakat was a student of the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology.
Mrs Bello said: “Only God knows how it happened. I was not at home. Some neighbours called me around 6pm. By the time I got home, I found my daughter in the pool of blood. I was shocked. She took her phone to Kara for repair on Sunday and went to retrieve it on Monday around 2pm. Some people saw her around 5pm while returning home.
“She later went to fetch water to take a bath. Those killers had stolen some things in our room. They met her on their way out through the backyard and attacked her. Her younger sister, who had gone to the Arabic class, was the one that alerted the neighbours when she found her in the pool of blood.”
Barakat was raped and killed at a time many people are mourning Uwa Omozuwa, a 100-level student of the University of Benin, who was also raped and murdered in a church in Benin a few days earlier.
Prominent people and organizations, including President Muhammadu Buhari, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Pastor EA Adeboye, have lamented Omozuwa’s death, with the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, promising that the killers would be found.
Like Omozuwa’s parents, Mrs Bello cannot stop moaning, saying Barakat had promised to be a star child.
“She made a lot of promises for me to turn our lives around because we are poor. They (the killers) did not make my daughter fulfil all her promises.
“There is nothing people can do for me that would bring her back to life. But one thing I am asking Allah is whoever is involved in the killing of my daughter be exposed before seven days,” she was further quoted as saying.
