By Lillian Okenwa
Ebele brimmed with joy. Justice at last. She finally got justice for her daughter and niece, who were aged six and seven when they were defiled by their housekeeper, Bright Izuchukwu.
Ebele a nurse and resident of Festac Town in Lagos had employed Bright then aged 27, in December 2016 to look after the girls in her absence. Sadly, the convict used his knowledge of the location of a Close Circuit Television installed in the house to avoid being captured when he committed the crime.
“I always gave my daughter sex education, and from time to time, I asked my daughter whether anyone touched her private parts.
“On July 17 or 18, 2018, I asked her if anyone touched her private parts. She said Izuchukwu used to place her on his lap and insert his fingers into her private parts, and he subsequently inserted his manhood into her private parts.
“She said the defilement occurred in the study room in a certain area of the house. I have CCTV cameras mounted all over my home, but it is not reflected in these parts of the house,” the mother said.
Izuchukwu got a life sentence for the crime.
On June 27, 2022, the Lagos division of the Appeal Court, upheld the judgment of an Ikeja Special Offences Court which sentenced a driver, Francis Apai, to 15 years imprisonment for raping his employer’s 18-year-old daughter in Lagos.
The convict was sentenced by Justice Sherifat Solebo on June 11, 2020, after finding him guilty of one count of sexual assault by penetration.
Unhappy with the judgment, Apai went to the appellate court to challenge his conviction and sentence. But, the justices of the appellate court unanimously affirmed the judgment of the lower court and dismissed Apai’s case.
While being led in evidence by the prosecution on January 7, 2020, the complainant gave a harrowing account of how she was violently attacked and raped by Apai, who was her mother’s driver.
“My mother is a businesswoman; he (Apai) usually drives my father when my mother is not present, and he takes my younger brother and me to school,” she explained.
The complainant said on the day of the incident she was at home alone because her parents had taken her younger brother, who fell ill around 3 am that morning, to a hospital.
She told the court that while she was preparing a meal in the kitchen, the driver approached her with a knife and threatened to harm her if she refused to accede to his sexual demand.
She said when she resisted, the driver dragged her to a bedroom in her home where he punched and raped her.
The victim told the court that she ran out of the house stark naked to escape her attacker.
“When I ran out naked, my neighbour downstairs saw me and asked me to come into her house, but I refused because Francis (Apai) was with a knife and I was scared that he might come into the house and attack me.”
“I ran across the street to another neighbour, with blood streaming down my legs, and they gave me a wrapper to cover myself up. My neighbours took me to the police station and the hospital, “she added.
Child sexual abuse in Nigeria is an offence under several sections of the country’s criminal code. The age of consent is 18.
However, the mother of a 10-year-old girl identified as Aisha Hamzat was not as lucky. She is still crying out for justice. Following the alarm raised by Actor Damilola Adekoya, otherwise known as Princess, on the rape and murder of her daughter Aisha, the distraught mum has made a plea to the general public to help her get justice.
Speaking in a live video with Comedienne Princess on Instagram, the mother of the deceased begged members of the public to come to her aid and help to get justice for her daughter. She noted that her 10-year-old daughter was violated and murdered.
The child’s mother said, ‘I want justice for my daughter. My daughter was raped and killed. I want well-meaning Nigerians to come to my aid. I want justice for my daughter’.
Narrating how the incident happened, Princess disclosed that the 10-year-old was violated and murdered in Ayobo area of Lagos State on Sunday while she was on her way to church. She added that the perpetrators dumped the body of the girl in someone’s compound after committing the wicked act.
Following the Actor’s plea to the general public earlier today, a couple of volunteers went to the Police Station to gather more information on the matter and assist the child’s mother in getting justice.
In the live video with Princess, one of the volunteers who went to Ayobo Police Command disclosed that the body of the victim has not yet been released to the mother. She said that she was informed that the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti.
Similarly, a 14-year-old student of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, died after a condom was found in her private parts in June 2021. Karen-Happuch Akpagher, an SS1 student was believed to have been sexually abused before she was withdrawn from school by her mother, Mrs. Vihimga Akpagher, on June 19, 2021, for treatment. Karen, however, died two days later at a hospital in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja. They are yet to get justice.
Months ago, the police command in Bauchi commenced investigations into the rape of an 18-month-old baby by a 59-year-old man. A statement by the police spokesman, SP Ahmed Wakil, said the 59-year-old has been arrested for the rape.
According to Wakil, the baby’s mother, Nenkat Danladi told the police that she met the suspect on her bed with her daughter at about 11:30 p.m. “After about 30 minutes, the nominal complainant discovered that the private part of her daughter was oozing blood. A team of personnel led by DPO Yelwa rushed the victim to ATBU Teaching hospital Bauchi for a medical examination. The suspect was arrested, and an investigation has commenced in earnest,” he said.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund reports that six out of every 10 children in Nigeria experience emotional, physical, or sexual abuse before the age of 18, with half experiencing physical violence.
