A 22-year-old woman had a close shave with death last Saturday at a hotel in FESTAC Town, Lagos. She was allegedly drugged by a South African businessman until she went into coma.
The incident occurred at Carlton Gate Hotel, 7th Avenue area of the town in the evening on that day. It was gathered that the victim, Awe Rebecca, a resident of 21, Gani Adams Street, Shoba Town, came into the hotel about 3pm to meet a guest who was already lodged in a room.
The hotel’s manager, Andrew Iyere, said after about two hours in the room, the guest came down and stood by the stair-case, inviting a porter into his room.
He said: “The porter said the man looked troubled. When he got there, he noticed a lady on the floor with blood coming out of her private part. The porter came to call me. When I got there, I saw the lady’s lifeless body with blood coming from her private part. I was scared. The guest had dragged her back to the bed. The guest was behaving like an insane person. I called security guards who came and locked him up in the room. There was a bottle of Vodka and Alomo bitters in the room. Those items were not purchased from the hotel.
“Immediately, I called my uncle who owns the hotel. He asked me to call the police and I did. When the police came and opened the room, the guest saw them and started threatening everybody. He said he was going to deal with the hotel and that he was going to make sure the policemen lose their job. He described himself as a rich South African-based businessman. But the police arrested him.”
Iyere said minutes after the police took the suspect away, he was assisted by some people who were around watching the English Premiership football games to take the victim to the City of David Hospitals Limited on 721 Road, where she is being treated.
A doctor, Austeen Akaehomen, said: “She is not dead, but deeply unconscious. The blood was coming out from her womb, may be due to an infection or a recent abortion. There is no tear of any kind.The good thing is that she is responding to a painful stimulus. We have conducted laboratory analysis and discovered no injury in her private part. She was drugged but not raped. The police have also visited the patient and confirmed that the suspect is in their custody.”
Investigations revealed that the victim also work in Dublina Hotel at 4th Avenue in FESTAC.
A police source hinted that the suspect usually meets the victim in the hotel whenever he is in town.
At the FESTAC Police Station where the suspect is being detained, a senior police officer confirmed he was brought in around 7.30pm last Saturday.