Luxury bus robbery: ‘I was saved by menstrual period’ - Female Student

                        

Based on reports from Punch Metro, one of the 42 pupils of the Holy Rosary College, Enugu, Enugu State, who was attacked by armed robbers in a Lagos-bound luxury bus at the Oke-Odo end of Sagamu-Benin Expressway, said she was not raped because she is undergoing menstruation.

She said, “The robbers collected N1, 200 from me as well as my mobile phone. When we were dragged into the bush, we were ordered to lie down. The robbers would immediately point the flash light at you and

 say ‘spread your legs open.’

“The robbers defiled some of the girls but when it got to my turn and I opened my legs, they saw blood between my thighs and this was because I was on my menstrual cycle.

“The robbers thought I had been raped already, left me and continued raping the other girls.”

The girl, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity at her parents’ residence in Ajao Estate area of Lagos, also told PUNCH Metro that the robbers raped most of the girls when they did not find valuables on them.

She said, “I was asleep when the Ekene Dili Chukwu luxury bus broke down in Ogun State. Suddenly, I was awoken by a loud noise and many men were banging the vehicle, shouting that we should alight.

“The men, who were carrying guns, probably thought that we were traders and wanted to rob us. But when they saw us in uniforms, it dawned on them that we are pupils.

“The leader of the robbers immediately got angry and ordered all of us out of the bus and instructed us to lie down and threatened to shoot us if we did not comply.”

The traumatised girl, who spoke with our correspondent in a voice laden with emotion, said the robbers, who were many, dragged all the girls into the bush and began raping them one after the other.

She added that robbers were pointing the flashlight directly into the girls’ eyes so that they would not be able to see their faces.

The pupil said the robbers made away with most of their belongings such as mobile phones and money.

She said they remained inside the bush for hours until policemen came to their rescue.