A Lagos-based couple, two weeks
ago, got what they did not bargain for
when an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court
ordered the remand of their 7-year-
old ward (name withheld) at the Child
Correctional Center, Yaba, while the only suspect in police custody was
granted bail. The victim was allegedly raped
several times by three men: Kassim
Mohammed, 43, Oluwatobi Daramola
and James Aniekan. The Magistrate, Mrs E. B Daudu of an
Ikeja Magistrate court granted the
application of the police prosecutor
identified as Anthonia for the rape
victim to be remanded in the Child
Correctional Center because her guardians could not take proper care
of her, which made her vulnerable to
sexual assault. The Magistrate however, released
one of the suspects, Tobi, on bail. It
took the kind intervention of the
Deputy Chief Registrar of the Lagos
High Court, Mr A.O. Isaacs for the
Magistrate to temper justice with mercy by releasing the victim to her
guardians after spending nearly the
whole day at the correctional center. According to the little girl, the police
prosecutor, Anthonia, whom she
described as the ‘fat woman’
accompanied her to the remand home
and threatened that her people would
not see her again. The little girl said that she was shown a cell with no
windows at the Correctional Centre,
and she was threatened that she
would be locked there for five days. Mohammed, Daramola and Aniekan
were said to have allegedly defiled
the little girl serially between July
2012 and January 2013. Daramola
and Aniekan, were said to be about
21 and 19 years old respectively although, they claimed to be 17. The victim’s ordeal in the hands of
the suspects, started when she was
only 6 years old. Two of the suspects,
Daramola and Aniekan were
arraigned at a magistrate’s court in
Lagos for alleged defilement. The arraignment of Daramola, was held
weeks before that of Aniekan. Tobi
was arraigned on a one- count charge
of unlawful sexual intercourse with
the hapless little girl. The charge
sheet reads;
“That you
Daramola
Oluwatobi ‘m’
between July 2012 and
January 13,
2013 at Idowu
Egba, Ikotun,
Lagos in Lagos
Magisterial District had sexual intercourse with
one girl “f” aged 7 years and thereby
committed an offense punishable
under section 137 of the Criminal Law
of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.” The victim who lives with her aunt
and her husband at 2, Oladipo Close,
off Lawani Ogunle Street, Greenland
Estate, Isheri area of Lagos, narrated
what she had suffered in the hands of
the men. “My uncle (her aunt’s husband) and I
were going to the shop. Tobi saw us.
He then greeted my uncle. I also
greeted him. The next day, my uncle
told me to stay at home, eat and do
my home work. My uncle said he would be back at home very soon that
he wanted to go and collect money
from his shop. “When I went downstairs to buy
biscuit, Tobi saw me. He greeted me
and said, “Fine girl, how are you?’ I
said ‘fine.” He asked if he could buy
me anything and he bought gala and
a bottle of coca-cola. He then asked me to show him our house, which I
did and later when I was in bed and
about to sleep, Tobi came into our
house. He played football with me
and left. “The next day, Tobi, James and one
small boy came. They put their fingers
inside my bum-bum (that is they
thrust their fingers into her private
part). The next day, Tobi and James
came again without the small boy. They now put their wee-wee(penis)
inside my bum-bum(private part).
Another day again Tobi came with
Kassim, Kassim was holding a knife
and a pack of Five-Alive and gala. ”Tobi left but Kassim used his wee-
wee on me. He said that if I shout he
would kill me with the knife. When
Kassim had finished, he said I should
show him my bathroom. I showed
him and he bathed. After bathing, he said I should bring a glass cup. He
shared the five-alive. He gave me four
rolls of gala while he took two. He
told me to throw the empty pack of
five-alive into the dustbin. Kassim
left after he had made sure that I discarded the empty pack of the juice
into the dustbin.” The victim who has gotten used to
being violated sexually every day was
relieved temporarily as she escaped
being abused the next day by the
suspects, as she went on holiday.
“The next day, I did not see Kassim because I went to my aunt’s sister’s
place at Igando on holiday.” It was however a temporary relief for
her because the sexual assault
continued when she came back from
the holiday. ”When I came back from aunt’s
sister’s place. I was sent on errand by
my aunt. On my way, I met Kassim
who asked after my uncle and aunt. I
told him they were around. Kassim
now said that I should enter his house. The next day I wanted to go
and buy biscuit for Chibuike my little
brother (the aunt’s son), Tobi saw me
and asked that I should follow him to
his house. He threatened that if I
refused, he would make sure I got lost and so would not see my parents
again. “I followed him out of fear while
carrying my two-year old cousin
along. Tobi defiled me once again
using his male sex organ. When he
finished, he told me to go and bathe in
his bathroom, but I left with my brother to buy the biscuit. My aunt
asked me why I came back late. I told
her that there were many people that
wanted to buy things from the Mallam
(the man selling provisions). I did not
report all these things to my aunt and her husband because Kassim
threatened to deal with me if I
mentioned his name.” MD Abubakar, Police IG Narrating her own side of the story,
the victim’s aunt simply called, Ngozi,
said when the ordeal of her little
niece started, she was in Abuja where
she went to give birth. She said she
was in Abuja between June and August last year, and even had to
return to Abuja for medical attention
because she developed complications
after she had given birth through
Cesarian operation. While she was
away, she said the victim was left in the care of her husband and a cousin. She said it was in January this year,
while she was going through the little
girl’s clothes that she discovered that
two of the little girl’s under wears
had blood stains, then she suspected
that something was amiss. She then persuaded her neice until she told her
about James who worked in a
barber’s shop nearby. She said the
little girl also told her that James
defiled her and threatened to deal
with her if she revealed what he had done to her. She said, “Immediately, I called my
pastor and told him what happened.
He called one of the members of our
church who is a policewoman. The
woman said I had to come down to
Ikotun Police Station to officially report.” After the police had
interviewed the girl, they got James
arrested. The father of James was
trying to defend his son that he could
not have defiled the girl since he, the
father, is a pastor. However, James was detained and arraigned before
an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court, where he
was granted bail. According to Ngozi, James confessed
that he did it. He, according to her,
even wrote a confessional statement
at the police station. But James’s
father allegedly maintained that he
made the statement under duress. Unfortunately, while this was going
on, her guardians did not know that
she had been raped several times by
more than one person. ”It was two
weeks later that we discovered that
there were others. I heard my two- year old son ordering the girl to lie
down in bed. I wondered how a two-
year old boy could talk like that. So, I
asked her where the boy learnt that. “She was just staring at me. I insisted
that she answers me. It was then she
told me it was one Tobi that said that
to her and that the little boy was
present when he did that. I started
shouting and asked if the boy was watching as Tobi defiled her. She said
yes that Tobi ordered him to look at
the dressing mirror in his room, she
told me about Tobi and Kassim.” However, Ngozi said the police were
reluctant to arrest the suspects stating
that Tobi’s parents went as far as
alleging that she wanted to extort
money from them while Kassim’s
wife claimed that her husband was not in Lagos. According to Ngozi, the police were
no longer working in our interest
even when Tobi was arraigned before
a Magistrate’s Court presided over by
Mrs. E. B Daudu. She said what really
galled her and her husband was when the police prosecutor identified as
Anthonia who was supposed to be
working in her interest, made an
application for the rape victim to be
remanded in the Child Correctional
Center at Yaba. The prosecutor claimed that the
application was necessary because
the guardians could not take proper
care of her. This, she said was what
made her vulnerable to sexual
assault. To the chagrin of the plaintiffs, Mrs. Daodu granted the
application while she released Tobi on
bail. Meanwhile, the family of the victim
who no longer has any trust in the
ability of the police to prosecute the
three suspects is making efforts to get
the Lagos State Government to .take
over the case from the police.

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/s-h-o-c-k-e-r-rape-victim-remanded-suspect-granted-bail-by-lagos-court/