Thirty-six-year-old
Sola Adebisi was sobbing when she narrated the incident of her daughter’s rape
on Thursday. She wasn’t sobbing because of the sexual attack on her
eight-year-old daughter, Lola (not real name), who was defiled by a security
guard but because she and her daughter are now being victimised by the police
for reporting the case.
“One of the
policemen even said to my face ‘Like daughter like mother.’ Are they implying
my daughter deserved to be sexually assaulted?” she said.
According to
the single mother of two, who sells food at Benson Junction, Ikorodu, Lagos, it
all began on Monday, January 26, 2015 when she sent her daughter on an errand
around the area where she vends food.
She said, “Usually,
at the close of work, I keep the containers I use to sell food behind a house
at the bus stop where I sell food. Sometimes I send my daughter or her younger
brother to take the containers there.
“But on that
Monday, I was busy with something and sent my daughter around 7.30pm to keep
the containers there. But I realised she took longer than usual.
“I went to
look for her at the house later and Mr. Benjamin (the security guard, popularly
called Baba Ijebu in the area) told me that she had left a while ago. I saw the
containers there.”
Adebisi said
it was when she turned to leave that she noticed her daughter coming out of a
corner of the house. The mother demanded to know where her daughter had been
but the girl could not give a satisfactory answer.
“I kept
asking her and all she could tell me was that she did not get back on time
because Baba Ijebu refused to open the gate on time. I knew she was lying and
even threatened to beat her up,” she said.
The girl
later told her mother about two instances of sexual assaults by the same man,
who had warned her against telling her mother what he did.
“She told me
that Baba Ijebu dragged her into a corner of the house and dipped his fingers
in her private part. She said that day was the second time such thing would
happen.”
But when
Adebisi confronted the man, he apologised saying he only had a sexual encounter
with the girl once.
The mother
later reported the case at the Ikorodu Police Division, where policemen were
drafted to arrest Benjamin.
The police
gave Adebisi a note to the hospital to carry out a test on her daughter, which
she took to the Mirable Centre at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital,
Ikeja.
Adebisi said
the case has been drawn out under different excuses by the police till they
finally released Benjamin.
“Now, when
Benjamin sees my daughter, he winks and laughs at her. She always tells me when
that happens. The police have told me to forget about the issue and settle with
the man. When I remained adamant, they started abusing me, blaming me for what
happened. One of the policemen in charge of the case even blamed me for letting
him waste money he should have paid me as settlement on getting a lawyer.”
Adebisi
accused the police of treating her daughter’s case light because she is poor.
Adebisi
explained that even though the report of the test carried out on her daughter
was sent directly by LASUTH staff to protect the integrity of the report, the
police had been blaming her for disobedience.
“They said I
might have forged the test report because I went to LASUTH even though I was
directed to the Ikorodu General Hospital. But I told them that I went to the
teaching hospital because sexual assault test is free there,” she said.
Child Rights
Activist, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, who now handles the case, lamented the recurrent
cases of sexual assaults in which families of victims complain about being
treated unfairly by the police.
She said,
“The attitude of our policemen to cases of sexual assault is worrisome. This is
a case police authorities need to act fast on because it does not speak well of
their integrity.
“We have
reported the matter at the Human Rights Commission Office in Lagos and just
want to get justice for this family. The woman is just a roadside food vendor,
she went took her daughter to a hospital where tests will be carried out on her
free of charge. Are we to blame her because of that?
“But families
should also understand that sexual predators are always around the corner and
should do everything to protect their children.”
The Police
Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu, told our correspondent that after
the case was brought to his attention, Benjamin had been rearrested.
He said, “We
condemn such acts and cannot condone it in any way. You have to understand that
the case was reported three days after it happened. There are certain
procedures the police have to follow.
“The mother
of the victim was directed to take the girl for a test at the Ikorodu General
Hospital, but she was said to have gone to a private hospital instead.
“But even at
that, our concern is to ensure that the victim is protected and the suspect
punished if found guilty by the court.
“As I speak,
the case file and the suspect are being taken to the Department of Criminal
Investigation, Yaba for further investigation. The mother of the victim should
not entertain any fear.”
Culled: Punch
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