'I Dropped Out Of School' Poverty, boredom pushed me into rape, robbery gang — 26-yr-old Suspect

A 26-year-old school dropout arrested for fraud and rape,Uchenna Ugwu, has said he was pushed into crime by poverty and boredom.

Ugwu, an Enugu state indigene, was paraded at the Awka, Anambra State office of theDepartment of State Service, as a member of a syndicate of fraudsters who pretend to be spiritualist and then rape and defraud unsuspecting women,PUNCH Metroreports.
The group operated in Asaba, Delta State, and Obosi, in the Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
He confessed to the crime but blamed his case on poverty and frustration.

“I joined this business to fight boredom because my former work was not going on fine and had shut down," he said.
The suspect said he was forced to stop his education very early because his parents were too poor to finance it.

“My parents, who are still alive, are poor and because they cannot sponsor my education, I had to stop at primary six.”
He begged for mercy, promising never to engage in crime again.
“I have suffered a lot in the hands of these people (DSS) and I promise not to indulge in this act again in my life; this is a lesson to every young man that doing evil is not the best,” he said.
Student Pulse gathered that the gang lure women into an arranged prayer house, where she would be tricked into disclosing their ATM PIN codes and compelled to take an oath of secrecy.

One of the gang's victim toldPUNCH Metroshe believes she must have been hypnotized.
“To be sincere, I did not know what I was doing. I lost my sense of reasoning during the process until after he raped me," she said.
The Director of DSS,Alex Okeiyi, warned members of the public to be cautious.