Convicted child sex offender re-arrested after escaping from prison

A man convicted for rape and impregnating his daughter has been re-arrested by the police, four years after escaping from a prison in Benin City, Edo State, South-south Nigeria.

Jacob Alone, 58, was convicted and sentenced to 21 years imprisonment, the police in Edo State said in a statement posted on X on Tuesday.

“During his trial in court, the victim who happened to be his daughter died in a ghastly motor accident while coming to give evidence in court. Through intelligence gathering, the suspect was re-arrested.

“We are returning him to where he belongs because from information gathered about him, he is a very dangerous man to the society,” the police said.

Edo jailbreak

Mr Alone was one of the 1,993 inmates who escaped during the 2020 jailbreak in Benin and Oko prisons in Edo State.

The #EndSARS protesters had stormed the Custodial Centre, freed the inmates and looted the centres, including the weapons in their armoury, Mohammed Manga, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, had said four years ago.

Several persons were said to have sustained gunshot injuries as prison guards engaged the invaders in a shootout.

Nigeria has witnessed frequent jailbreaks, with some of the escapees re-arrested by the police.

PREMIUM TIMES in May last year reported how the police re-arrested two Kuje prison escapees at another crime scene.

The inmates escaped when terrorists used explosives to breach the correction facility, resulting in the escape of over 800 of the 994 inmates.

The two prison escapees were re-arrested in Adamawa State.

In 2022, this newspaper reported how the police re-arrested one of the inmates, Mohammed Ibrahim, who escaped from the Jos custodial centre.

Mr Ibrahim was among those who escaped from the prison during the 2021 jailbreak in Jos, Plateau state.