Angry youths set ‘lunatic’ turned kidnapper ablaze in Ondo

A middle aged woman, who pretended to be a lunatic, has been set ablaze for attempting to kidnap a seven-year-old primary school pupil in Ondo town, Ondo State, yesterday. The “lunatic,” according to an eyewitness, was usually found at a dump site along Oluseyi Street in Ondo town at a particular day of the week. Unknown to residents of the area that she was a kidnapper, the woman popularly called “Ayababa” was seen by some youths on the other side of the road, trying to drag the boy into an uncompleted building at about 7.30 a.m. It was learnt that the youths were attracted by the boy’s shout for help. The victim, according to investigation, was on his way to school when the woman attempted to kidnap him. The youths reportedly pounced on her and when questioned she was unable to explain her action. Further questioning by the youths revealed that she was actually a sane person who had all along pretended to be a lunatic. One of the youths reportedly removed the artificial hair on her head and she was later discovered to have fixed expensive finger nails. These discoveries, it was learnt, infuriated the youths who applied jungle justice by setting her ablaze after pouring petrol on her. A Blackberry and Nokia handsets were later recovered from the woman’s bag. She was said to have confessed before she met her death that she used to come from Osogbo in Osun State thrice a month for the kidnap business. According to an eyewitness, the woman said she was not the only one in the business as others had fled immediately she was arrested. It was also gathered that the woman would, during the day, operate as a lunatic to scout for victims and at night go after her targets. Nemesis, however, caught up with her as she could not wait for the night before pouncing on the boy which led to her arrest and subsequent death. It was learnt that the deceased had some men accomplices within the town who assisted her to ferry the victims out of the town. The state police image maker, Wole Ogodo, could not be reached on phone for confirmation.