The victim was raped last week Tuesday in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos State where Uzor lived with his second wife. Punch gathered that the victim’s mother died about seven years ago after which she started living with her grandmother.
However, when the old woman
became plagued with ill health, she was said to have been taken to the Ogijo
area of Ogun State, where she stayed with an aunt. But the aunt, three weeks
ago, reportedly sent her to her father in Ebute Meta, saying she wanted to
travel.
The Primary four pupil in
an interview with our correspondent said her father defiled her while she was
in the kitchen. She said,
“My mother died seven years ago. I did not
know my father because I grew up with my grandmother. It was when I was 12
years old that I was told I had a father.Three weeks ago, my aunty told me I
would stay with my father for a few days because she was travelling and did not
want to leave me alone at home. That was how I went to stay with my father.
On Tuesday, around 6.30pm,
my father asked me to warm the soup on the stove. He suddenly followed me
inside the kitchen and shut the door. I thought he wanted to cane me, and I
started begging him.
Instead, he removed his
clothes and pulled my skirt and paints. Then he had sex with me. It was painful
and blood gushed out from my private parts. He then said he was sorry.”
The victim said her father
gave her N500 for treatment after she complained of pains in her legs.She added
that he took her to a traditional doctor who prescribed some concoction for
her.
“My father told me he
wanted to travel. I used the money he gave me to buy recharge cards and I
called my elder brother and some other people to tell them what happened to
me,” she said.
However, before the police
could arrive at the scene, Uzor was said to have fled the house. The victim was
reportedly taken to Ogijo, where the matter got to the attention of the Ogun
State Coordinator of the Centre for Defence of Human Rights, Mrs. Toyosi Bello.
Bello accused the police of trying to cover up the incident. She said,
“The Denton Police Division
wanted to muddle up the matter and I decided to take the case to Nigerians.
This girl is almost an orphan and needs help, but the police are trying to
compound her problems.”
Our correspondent learnt
that the victim and Bello were later connected with a human rights
organisation, Project Alert on Violence against Women. The Coordinator of the
group, Mrs. Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, said
“When she got here, we did
a referral letter to Mirabel Centre, which is a subsidiary of the Lagos State
University Teaching Hospital. Some medical tests were carried out on her and
drugs were given to her.
“She is in our custody in
the interim because she cannot go back to either her aunt or father. We
discovered her aunt had been physically abusing her. We saw scars all over her
body. The aunt then sent her to her father who further sexually abused her.”
Effah-Chukwuma said the
group had petitioned the police authorities because the case was not given the
attention it deserved, adding that the Denton Police Division had been
“notorious in terms of how they respond to sexual abuse cases.”
A letter, dated December 4
and addressed to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, claimed
that the policemen handling the case connived with Uzor’s second wife to
rubbish it.
The Police Public Relations
Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said,
“The case was reported at
the station. The division has not closed the matter.It is presently under
investigation and I am aware the father of the girl is not around.The matter is
now at the SCID.”
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