The police in Jos on Tuesday arrested four cattle herders; Hamisu Mohammed, 18, Rayanu Mohammed, 15, Mustapha Yunusa, 15, and Abbas Salisu, 17, for raping four female minors.
The suspects, all of Manger Village in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau, are being held for rape at the State Criminal Investigation Division.
The charge sheet said, the suspects in the course of tending to their flock in the bush, accosted the sisters who were on their way home and raped them.
According to the statement from one of the victims, she said; she and her 3 sisters were walking home when the ‘Fulani’ boys accosted them and threatened them with sticks.
She said when they tried to resist them; the boys beat them with the sticks, injured them and later took turns to rape all of them.
She added that after the rape, she and her sisters ran to a nearby village called Luwapam and raised alarm after which the boys got arrested by villagers.
The suspects, in their statement to the police, admitted to raping the sisters stating that they all conspired to rape the girls.
One of the suspects, Hamisu Mohammed, stated in his statement, that they were ‘sexually charged’ on sighting the girls and so immediately resorted to raping them as there was nothing they could do at that moment to ease their urge.
The police prosecutor, Insp. E.A Inegbenoise, who confirmed the arrest, said that the suspects had already been charged and would soon appear in court.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
