Nigerian BMW Trunk Victim Battles For Life, Assailant Still On The Run

Akeem Ajimotokan

The 33-year old Nigerian who was found gagged, bound and left for dead in the trunk of his own BMW M3 Coupe car in New York is still in a coma in a Harlem Hospital three days after local police saved him from certain death.

News Desk Naija has visited the hospital two days in row but could not gain access to Akeem Ajimotokan, whose condition has been categorized as “critical” by doctors at Harlem hospital in New York.  A medical source told our reporter that the young lawyer has remained in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital breathing with the aid of a ventilator.

Akeem’s blood is reportedly being filtered in order to avoid clotting, the source said, noting that he has yet to show any signs of consciousness since he was admitted there.  Doctors tending to Akeem said they are not in any position to state if his condition will improve or not in view of his comatose state.

On Friday night at about 11pm, Alice Ajim, his brother's wife arrived from Texas and visited the hospital to see Akeem.  Her husband, Dr Ayo Ajim, is an internal medicine physician in Houston, where they are co-pastors at the Grace Temple Church.

Another disturbing development is that the New York Police Department (NYPD) has yet to apprehend Barion Blake, the ex-convict BMW car freak who beat Akeem to the point of death before binding him up and throwing him inside the truck of his car.

 Akeem is a lawyer who works at the procurement unit of Columbia University in New York.
 He had offered his car for sale on the Internet for $46,000 and included his telephone number.    When Mr. Blake saw the advert, he contacted Akeem apparently to find out the location of the car; he then traveled from New York to West New York in New Jersey to meet the seller.  After Akeem opened his door, the proposed buyer, pretending to be truly interested in buying the car, signed the bill of sale, afterwards he pounced on Akeem at the point at which Akeem was expecting him to make the purchase money available.

 Blake stabbed Akeem in the head almost cutting off his ear.  He then gagged and bound the unconscious young man, threw him in the car trunk and drove off.  Some distance later, Blake stopped on the highway to swap the licence plates of the BMW with the ones he had taken from a Toyota Camry car with the help of an accomplice. Unfortunately for him, he was seen by an undercover police officer in Nassau County who confronted him, but Blake jumped into Akeem's BMW car and drove off. The officer followed in hot pursuit but soon skidded off the treacherous, snow-covered highway.

The snow also became Blake's nemesis as he rammed the BMW car into the rear end of a taxi in Manhattan and had to confront an enraged taxi driver.  Realizing he would not be able to drive any further, he fled the scene on foot.  The NYPD has not seen him since then, and it is unusual for such a quickly identified suspect with a record to disappear in the middle of New York. 

Meanwhile, it has been learned that when he had the unconscious Akeem in his custody, Blake called his wife and told her he had done something wrong.