In another case that has highlighted the
increasing child sexual abuses in Nigeria, a 65-year-old landlord, in Akowonjo
area of Lagos, Mr. Ganiyu Sani, has allegedly raped a seven-year-old girl,
Blessing. But this time, the parents of the victim believe he did it for ritual
purposes.
The civil servant mother of the victim told our
correspondent that on Monday, August 17, 2015, when she got back from work and
was having dinner with her children, Blessings started to touch her crotch and
complain of pain.
“I felt the part she was touching and asked what
was wrong with her. I thought she was referring to her lower abdomen and
believed it must be stomach ache. But she insisted that it was her private
part.
“I asked
if she fell down and hurt herself but she simply shook her head. I asked if
someone hit her there while she was playing with other children in the
neighbourhood, she said no. I started suspecting there was something bigger
than what she was telling me.
“I pleaded with her to tell me what happened.
That was when she told me about what Baba did. I could not contain my
anger. I was shocked, angry and sad at the same time that such an old man could
do such a thing to my daughter. My daughter had no reason to lie.”
Blessing’s father, a trader from Ebonyi State,
works in the Eastern part of the country while his wife and the children live
in Lagos because of his wife’s work.
He was in the East when he received a call from
his wife about what had happened to their daughter. He told his wife to take a
neighbour along to go and confront Baba, who denied everything immediately.
Baba Sani, a landlord who lives on renting out Danfo
buses to commercial bus drivers, lives just two houses away from
Blessing’s parents.
Blessing, an exuberant, fair complexioned girl,
was not shy when our correspondent spoke with her about what Baba Sani did to
her.
She explained that the old man usually crossed
from his house to fetch water from a tap beside their house.
She said, “On Friday, my mummy was not around and
he came to fetch water (like he normally does). When he was passing in the
front of our house, he asked me to follow him to come and collect biscuit.
“When I got to Baba’s house, he put off my shoes
and carried me to his bed. He removed my pants and lay on my chest. When I was
shouting, he said I should not shout, that he would give me biscuit and N20.
“When he finished, I saw blood coming out and
Baba used a cloth to clean it. He said I should not tell anybody. He gave me
biscuit and N20.”
Shockingly, without Blessing’s mother knowing,
Baba Sani allegedly called the girl and raped her again the following day, a
Saturday.
To dispel doubts about the girl’s allegation, she
was asked to explain the location of Baba Sani’s bedroom inside the building
and her description was found to be exact description when our correspondent
eventually paid Baba Sani a visit.
Our correspondent spoke with Baba Sani in company
of the director of Esther Child Rights Foundation, Esther Ogwu, who the case
was initially reported to by the girl’s parents.
The man, who walked with the gait of someone
approaching senility, started off by saying Blessing’s mother was an
acquaintance, even though the girl’s mother said she had never had reason to
speak to him before.
Baba Sani said, “The girl’s mother once
approached me about a month ago to lend her N500. She sent her daughter to
collect it and I gave it to them. Later, the girl with her younger sister came
to my house that Friday to ask for money and I gave them N20.
“I did not do anything. I don’t know anything
about what they have accused me of. God is my witness. I am just surprised
about why I am the one the girl is accusing of such a thing.”
When asked how the girl could possibly know where
his bedroom was in the house, the old man said he had no idea.
Blessing’s mother said she had many other
co-tenants and neighbours and said she couldn’t have imagined asking Baba Sani
to lend her any money.
A test conducted at the Mirabel Sexual Assault
Referral Centre at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos,
confirmed that the girl was indeed raped as lacerations on her private part
were consistent with sexual assault.
The case was reported at the Gowon Estate Police
Division.
Ogwu explained to our correspondent that she was
disappointed that initially the police did not handle the case as if they were
interested in prosecuting the man. She said rather than charge him to court,
they released him from custody despite the fact that they had got the report of
the test conducted on the girl.
The child rights activist said, “According to the
information I was given, the man was pretending that he was insane when he was
arrested. Everybody in the neighbourhood could testify that nothing was wrong
with him.
“It should not be too hard to enforce the law in
this case. The Child Rights Act is there. It is unfortunate that the mother of
the child did not monitor her daughter well. There are so many young children
in that neighbourhood that could have been victims of the man.”
Baba Sani was arraigned before an Ikeja family
court on charges of defilement and child abuse on Monday. He was remanded in
prison custody while the case was adjourned till September 4, 2015.
Source:Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment