Christopher Oji

Lagos Police command has arrested a self-acclaimed prophet who allegedly specialised in swindling ladies looking for husbands on social media and sleeping with them.

Officers from the Isheri Oshun Police Station arrested Williams Bernard, who operated with the fake name Evans Joris on his Facebook account.

According to the police, at the station where he and a member of his syndicate are now under interrogation, the suspects’ mode of operation was to send ‘friend’ requests to women on Facebook and, thereafter, make them a business or marriage proposal.

Through their proposals, they would make their victims repose confidence in them, after which they would invite the would-be victims to hotels, where they would rape and take their nude photographs, which they would threaten to post on the social media if they squealed or failed to cooperate in any way.

With the nude photographs, the syndicate would start blackmailing the victims, extorting money from them for as long as they want.

However, Bernard was arrested when he and a member of his syndicate, after extorting money from a 19-year-old, raped her and started blackmailing her. They later abducted the lady and used her as a sex slave.

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The victim, Glory, who narrated her ordeals to Daily Sun, said: “I live in Ikotun, Lagos. I met Williams Bernard on the social media. He sent me a friend request, which I accepted. He said he was a tiler and prophet. We were chatting on Facebook until he asked me to become his lover, and I said no to him and warned him to stop chatting with me.

So, I blocked him. A few days later, another man sent me a friend request from the USA and I accepted. We soon started chatting. Some days after we became friends, the man told me that he would like to marry me and I was so happy but I told the man that I must be 20 before marriage.

“One day, the man who was chatting me from the USA said he would send me an iPhone and laptop for me to communicate effectively with him. He later sent the phone number of the person I should collect the items from. When I dialed the number, it happened to be that of Williams Bernard, who I had warned to stay clear of me, and he responded that it was a coincidence as his blood brother had proposed marriage to me. He gave me an appointment in a hotel to meet him for the items. When I arrived the hotel, Bernard said he was shocked that the courier service that was bringing the items had returned it to Abuja and that he needed N20,000 to send to the courier service to enable them bring the goods to Lagos.

“I took Bernard to my aunt and she gave him the money. Later, Bernard invited me for a meeting in the hotel for some discussion. I did not suspect anything, as I thought he was genuine. When I arrived the hotel room, he started shouting and asking why I decided to tarnish his name before his elder brother, as I was asking what he meant, he brought out a bottle and threatened to kill me if I did not cooperate with him. He commanded me to remove my clothes or I would be stabbed to death.

“He raped me as he liked, after which he took my nude photographs and threatened to upload them on the social media, if I told my aunt, relatives and the police. That was how he turned me to a sex slave. Any time he needed me, he would tell me stories that someone mistakenly saw my nude photograph”

Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bala Elkana, said, “The suspects are still being interrogated at the Isheri Oshun Police Station. We are trying to know how many are in the syndicate. They will be charged to the court soon.”

However, Elkana warned ladies to be wary of those they interact with on the social media as criminals were on the prowl who pretend to be of genuine intentions.