‘How my grandson was kidnapped in church’

                                   

A witness, Mrs Gladys Alaegbu, yesterday told a Lagos High Court in Igbosere that her four-year-old grandson, Joshua, was kidnapped in a Lagos church in 2015, during a workers’ meeting.

Alaegbu, a worker in Amazing Grace Pentecostal Church, Palmgrove, Lagos, testified as the second prosecution witness in the trial of a suspected serial kidnapper, Gabriel Ogunsawe.

According to the Lagos State Government, Ogunsawe and his accomplices, who are on the run, kidnapped Joshua on February 1, 2015 and released him a day later, after obtaining a N300,000 ransom and N3000 airtime.
His arraignment at an Ebute-Meta Magistrates’ Court in 2015 and re-arraingment at the High Court in 2017 followed his arrest in May 2015, by the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID), Panti, Lagos.

The offences contravened sections 261 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, according to the prosecution. The defendant pleaded not guilty.

Ogunsawe was allegedly sent to Kirikiri Prison in 2013 for his part in a similar offence.
At the commencement of yesterday’s proceedings, Alaegbu testified as the second prosecution witness while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Bisayo Apata.

“My grandson was kidnapped inside the church on February 1,” the witness said.
She explained that following the conclusion of the day’s service, she stayed back to attend a workers’ meeting and handed Joshua her bag and found him a seat behind her.
Alaegbu said: “I looked back several times and saw him playing. But after we did the closing prayers, I did not see him again.”

She said only her bag was on the chair. After looking for him without success, she ran home to inform her husband that the boy was missing. Together, they proceeded to the nearby Pedro Police Station, Palmgrove which refused to take her statement. “The police said we had to wait for 24 hours,” Alaegbu explained.

The witness said they returned to the church where they were informed that the kidnapper had been in touch with the clergyman, ‘Pastor Joshua.’

“I stayed there till 8pm before leaving for home. The pastor told us the kidnappers were still calling, mentioning a ransom. I was crying throughout,” she said, adding that they threatened to hand over Joshua to money ritualists at Ijebu Ode, in Ogun State, if the family or church failed to raise the ransom.

The next day, they returned to the church, where at about 3:30pm, “I received a call from my compound, one of my neighbours said the police had found Joshua.”

The police left a note asking her to come to the Onikan Police Station, where she recovered Joshua.
She added: “Three months after Joshua was found, I received a call from Panti. They told me to come with Joshua. That’s where I saw the defendant.”

Justice Modupe Nicol-Clay adjourned further proceedings till April 4.
FacebookTwitterGoogle+PinterestLinkedInWhatsAppEmail