The last may not have been heard of Mr. Danwanu
Moses, the aggrieved father whose daughter was allegedly defiled five years ago
by her school’s proprietor.
Moses alleged that a Divisional Police Officer said
his daughter (the victim) would have enjoyed being raped.
This allegation was contained in a petition written
by the father to the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, dated Friday, June
20, 2014 and obtained by our correspondent.
PUNCH Metro had on June 19, 2014, reported that the
aggrieved father called for the arrest and prosecution of the school proprietor
for allegedly defiling his daughter when she was 11 years old.
The father also explained in the report that the
school proprietor took advantage of his closeness to him (the father) to commit
the act and that the daughter could not tell anybody because she had been
threatened by the school proprietor not to tell anyone. He accused the police
in the petition of failing to live up to their responsibility to protect the
girl child from sexual harassment.
Citing a press conference addressed by the Lagos
State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, on the 2014
International Day of the African Child, the petitioner said, “The Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs.
Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, recently called for a collective action to stop all
forms of sexual harassment, assault and abuse, particularly rape cases against
the girl-child. “On addressing a press conference on the International Day of the
African Child 2014, she stated that parents must not hesitate to report cases
of sexual harassment, assault and abuse to the police in order to expose and
prosecute the offenders to serve as a deterrent to others.”
Expressing his disappointment on how the police
handled his complaint about his daughter’s ordeal, he said, “The police will
not act to protect girls. Their failure to protect the girl-child, especially
in the villages is a disgrace to Nigeria in the eyes of the world. “I took my daughter to the local police and
appealed to them to arrest and prosecute this man but they dismissed me and
said there was no evidence and the DPO in front of my daughter said she would
have enjoyed it anyway. This is the most disgusting behavior of the police in
response to a very serious crime with long lasting psychological damage on the
victim.”
He also urged the Ogun government in his petition
to ensure justice for his daughter, adding, “My
daughter and the other girls who have been abused by the proprietor deserve
justice; they deserve to go to school without fear of harm, without having to
be faced by the man who raped and defiled them. I beseech you to please help me
find justice and secure the safety of my daughter and the girls in my village.”
The police spokesman for the Ogun State Police
Command, Muyiwa Adejobi, when contacted, urged our correspondent to send him a
text message, promising to get back to him. He had, however, yet to reply to
the text message or call our correspondent back as of the time of going to the
press.
Source: Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment