THREE suspects have been charged to court by the Lagos State Police Command in connection with the murder of a sex worker, Hannah Saliu, who was beaten to death and set ablaze for allegedly keeping the Holy Quran in her room.
The three suspects were identified as Abubakar Musa, Sarauta Monsur, and Surajo Yusuf.
One of the suspects patronised the sex worker but after the encounter, she discovered that the sum of N5000 she kept in her room was missing.
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Hannah accused the customer of stealing her money but he denied committing the act.
The customer thereafter mobilised his friends to Hannah’s room to search for the missing money.
However, in the course of the search, a Quran was found under Hannah’s pillow.
The customer and his friends asked Hannah what she was doing with the Quran, considering the nature of her job.
They beat Hannah to death and subsequently set her body ablaze.
A source, who spoke with PUNCH, said, “What happened was that the girl was a prostitute and a customer patronised her and after sleeping with her, the customer paid N1,000 for her service.
“But when the customer was leaving, he stole the prostitute’s N5,000 and after discovering that her money had gone missing, the prostitute chased him to ask for her money.
“The Northerners, who were with the customer that the girl accused of stealing her money, asked if she was sure that he stole her money. So, they decided to go and search her room where she attended to her customers.
“While searching the room, they found Quran under her pillow and started asking what she was using the Quran for as a prostitute. So, they started attacking her; they stabbed her, took her out and set her ablaze.
“The incident happened at Alaba Rago, where a lot of Northerners reside. The girl that was killed also came from the North. Their grouse was that she was not supposed to be carrying the Quran because of the kind of work she was doing.”
Spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command Benjamin Hundeyin said the three suspects arrested in connection with the incident have been charged to court.
Hundeyin added that the case is being handled by the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M