The police are on the trail of a
50-year-old man, Vincent Uzor, who is on the run after allegedly raping his
14-year-old daughter.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the
victim was raped last week Tuesday in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos State where
Uzor lived with his second wife.
It was 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 the 14-year-old had been taken to the
hospital for treatment.
She 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.
It added that the Lagos State
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Women Affairs (Child Department) had
been notified.
The Police Public Relations
Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, told our correspondent that the police had commenced
investigations, adding that justice would be served.
He 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.”
SOURCE: Punch
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