If you've been around the internet lately, you would have probably heard of the news of Sophia from MTV Base Shuga series, Dorcas Shola Fapson's alleged ordeal in the early hours of 25th January, 2018 with attempted rape and kidnap which she was able to "defend herself" with a pepper spray.
There has been a lot of social media fuss and backlash from people on Ms Dorcas and Mr Henry the driver, some demanding his incarceration and other believing it's a false accusation. It has literally had the whole of Social media in bouts of debates and rebuttals.
Here is a detailed analysis of the videos posted by Ms Dorcas Fapson. Feel free to air your views at the comments.
Have you ever been raped or accused wrongly of rape? If yes, you'll probably be in the shoes of one of these two people right now. It's a crazy world we live in and it's a mystery understanding what goes on in the minds of those who willfully perpetrate these heinous acts.
For this analysis, we are limited to the videos, his words Vs hers therefore I stand to be corrected if any part of it is found to be faulty, so be rest assured that this article was prepared with absolutely no sentiments whatsoever.
First of all, the video starts off from a very uncomfortable point (him arriving at his gate and getting down to open it, which is later said to be his estate gate), thus making it difficult proving what could have led to the driver taking that step. Attempted kidnapping and/or rape, or just a perceived safety measure on his part? (which is where we must examine the statement of both parties).
According to Dorcas:
She booked a Taxify and the driver (hence, Henry) turns up at about 11:50 pm (10 minutes to midnight). She got in and Henry, discovering it was a card trip, requested for cash since he said he was going offline at the time. She, noting that she didn't have cash on her, couldn't meet his demands so he cancelled the trip.
All of a sudden he started taking her to an unknown destination because he didn't want her to leave the car and at this point she brought out her phone and began recording with a live commentary supposedly detailing every event.
He stops at a gate, gets down from the car with his keys still in ignition and made to open the gate.
She, sighting the keys, seized them which the driver noticed and made his way to retrieve them from her which resulted to a struggle. The driver is said to have dragged her by her waist intending to rape her and have her kidnapped but her pepper spray saved her from falling victim.
According to Henry (the audio interview):
He got a notification from Taxify of a pickup at almost midnight which turned out to be Dorcas. On getting to the pickup, he demanded for her destination to which she refused to disclose (and at some point rudely demanded that he proceeded without a destination). Both fearing for his safety and angry at the same time at her attitude, presumably, he cancelled the trip.
She refuse to leave the car and began making phone calls in her local dialect (Yoruba) and being Igbo, he feared for his security at such an hour and thus drove towards his estate gate which was a few seconds from there so that, in his words, people would easily hear him if something came up and he yelled for help.
He left the car to open the gate and discovered that she seized his keys and made his way to retrieve them from her but got sprayed with the chemical substance to which he perceivably felt would destabilize him and have him taken to “ritualists”.
According to the Video:
It starts from Henry arriving at his gate and getting down to open the gate. It claims in the caption that all doors where on child lock (a kind of lock down where all doors are locked preventing anyone from opening it from inside. Built to protect children from leaving the car on the road).
Following suit, she has the keys and then we see Henry being pepper sprayed.
Video 1 (the first evidence Dorcas posted) had his sayings here muted (edited to remove sound) by Dorcas and continues at Dorcas screaming “This is a Taxify driver who wants to rape and kidnap me... Thank God I have my pepper spray with me... ”
Video 2 (the second evidence which she posted after much pressure) had the initially muted part of the video showing the driver looking very weakened from the pepper spray and calling out “Chidinma! Chidinma!” (which is presumably a female relation inside) and responding to Dorcas' accusations says “Ritualist. This is a ritualist... She wants to take me to... ” (he says while holding the door either to prevent Dorcas from coming out or to prevent more pepper spray attacks) video cuts off after that part.
She makes her way through the other door to go out and then threatens “Tomorrow you will see”. He comes at her for a reprisal and she dares “if you touch me” then screams twice before the video ends.
From the Video:
It is crystal clear that there so many missing frames. The full video, if it has not been deleted, would be very useful in understanding what went down better.
Furthermore, contrary to what both of them tried to have you believe, there were no rape, kidnap or ritual attempts as the video proves.
Observations (from the video):
1. Releasing a video intently editing out a particular statement made by the alleged aggressor betrayed an ulterior motive from the beginning. This raised a lot of eyebrows. Further releasing the unedited section showing him calling for help and countering her allegations with an allegation made it worse.
From Video 1, it was a bit incriminating of the driver attempting something bad. However, with Video 2, it makes Dorcas very dishonest in her report.
There is a rule that you always let the evidence speak for itself, tampering with evidence in any way renders it invalid.
2. Self defence is vital. It's advisable to always be protected. Therefore having a pepper spray is not a bad idea. However, escape and self defence are two different things entirely. In situations such as rape, kidnapping, etc, there are times when one is better explored than the other. In Dorcas' case, when Henry left the car, she could have done better by leaving the car and calling for help. Even if the doors were on child lock (which I doubt since she eventually left the door on her right towards the end), the driver's door was open. Remaining seated, seizing his keys and having that moment captioned into that very video rather shows she wasn't expecting him to be trying to rape or kidnap her in the first place. The demonstration of a victim [to be] is really lacking here.
3. “Tomorrow you will see... ” This blatant threat shows she is so sure of leaving there in one piece. Think about it. What kind of a kidnapper lets you walk away with an evidence so incriminating that would inevitably guarantee a lifetime imprisonment. What kind of a criminal even allows you take a video of him at all (flashlight on). Not even a pickpocket would, let alone someone whose entire information is stored in Taxify's database ready to help the police fish him out.
So why was Dorcas so confident about getting out of there in one piece with her “evidence” still intact? Anyone?
4. Anyone noticed that Dorcas never got a call from the Taxify driver who was already 2 minutes away before Henry began driving her to this unknown destination? This whole ordeal was over 5 minutes (based on the incomplete video) if not more. Does that mean anything?
Observations (from their statements and aftermath):
1. Assuming it was a problem of destination, it is true orders could be made without destinations but Taxify's TOS doesn't prevent a driver from asking about the destination before continuing a trip. Besides, it was already midnight, passed his work time, so he had the right to know if it was convenient for him. It's HIS car!
Assuming it was a problem of card trip or cash trip, Taxify's TOS states:
“6.5 Please note that Taxify is not obliged to pay you the Fare due from the Customer if the In-app Payment failed because Customer’s credit card or mobile payment is cancelled or is unsuccessful for reasons not attributable to Taxify. In such case we will help you in requesting the Fare due from the Customer, and shall transmit it to you once the Customer has made the requested payment.” See Terms of Service, Taxify for Drivers
In this case, the driver is left with an option of embarking on a midnight trip that won't bring physical cash to his hands which he may have preferred for reasons known to him. Worse, at such a time, if her card didn't work, Taxify won't give him that money but would rather help him request for payment from the Customer which mean he runs a risk of giving Dorcas a free ride at such an hour. Granted, he has every right to ask for cash or better yet go offline if he pleases. It's HIS car! It's not an offence whatsoever.
Note: Has anyone wondered. In none of Dorcas' reports did she talk about — or counter Henry's allegation by mentioning — any destination attached to the trip she was making. Could Henry be saying the truth that Dorcas never disclosed a destination to him?
2. Hostage or Stubborn passenger? Dorcas says that immediately after this, the drivers said “if you're not going, you're not going.” he locks the car and made his way to an unknown location.
Henry says that his passenger refused to come down, was insistent on the trip, and began making phone calls disclosing their location in her local dialect which made him drive to his gate which was close by if anything warranted shouting for help.
Was Dorcas insistent on coming down from the car to wait for her Taxify which was two minutes away.
Was she just stubborn and refused to come down from the car which prompted Henry to drive?
Now is where remaining in the car while Henry left to open the gate and not getting anything that looked like a call from this “taxify” that was supposed to be two minutes away from the pickup (even after over 5 minutes of an ordeal) contradicts her statement.
A person bent on leaving a car would do so at any given chance (or at least, attempt to). Remaining seated and seizing his keys only goes to bolster the Stubborn passenger side of the story rather than the hostage.
Here is what I believe must have happened:
Dorcas ordered a Taxify. Henry turned up. She (either not saying her destination or accepting cash trip) didn't satisfactorily convince Henry to continue the trip. Frustrated by that, and already inside his car, Dorcas refuses to step out of the car, probably for fear of the fact that it was midnight and unsafe. Rather than plead nicely with Henry, responded rather rudely and Henry demanded that she left the car. She refused and Henry, already long passed his work time, decided to go home probably along the way Dorcas would have a change of heart. Approaching his gate, Dorcas, seriously wanting to make Henry pay for the disappointment or afraid of where he might have been taking her to began to record. However, he gets out of the car and it's apparent he is not interested in doing anything to Dorcas but may drive in and abandon her in the car until she begs to come out. So she seized his keys. Knowing fully well he'd come for a struggle to get them, she believed that would be a perfect recipe for an evidence of a rape allegation caught on camera. After the ordeal she utters “tomorrow you will see”, that is “I will make you pay for this”.
You think this is far fetched? Watch this video from a last year's ordeal of a Taxi driver (taken from his dash cam, which I would recommend for Taxify, Uber and the others) showing a woman threatening to call the cops on him accusing him of rape if he didn't let her charge her phone in his taxi. Guess what he said, “this is what females do”.
Both parties had a terrible misunderstanding and were wrong not to have called the police afterwards or better yet settled their differences amicably but Dorcas went extreme by going to Social media to accuse Henry of rape and attempted kidnapping. Putting up his picture and labeling him a Rapist.
That's absolutely libelous and unacceptable.
A lot of people have spent years behind bars for rape they never committed. It has ruined lives, broken homes and in societies like that of the Lagos environment where jungle justice thrives, this man could have easily been lynched by an angry mob who would have definitely believed the lady without questions.
Hopefully this gets to court and the law makes an example of this to send a message to people who indulge in this callous act.
To the Ladies,
Rape is a serious crime. It is also a terrible thing to accuse anyone of. Don't be the reason a man loses his life and freedom because you know the society may believe you. There are ACTUAL ordeals out there. People get raped a lot and with scenarios such as this, you make it difficult for actual victims to be heard (or believed).
If you find yourself in a situation where you feel sexually harassed, assaulted or raped, please ensure to report to the authorities immediately.
Say No To Rape Say No To Blackmail
So what do you feel? Agree or disagree or have something extra to add, please feel free to make a comment underneath.
MicheyJ1: We all know she was lying op. Why still talk about the issue. All tom,dick and Harry blogger is giving their opinion like mr op here.
Not everyone bro. Some people still want Henry locked up. Even Bovi was a little soft of her yesterday on Instagram which inspired my writing this article.
If the man had intent on harming her pepper spray would have done nothing to help. Hence she lied. The video showed her sitting in the car comfortably, throwing curses while the guy was trying to wash off the effects of the spray. The only sense he needed if he had bad intentions were those of touch. I can close my eyes and still inflict bodily harm on someone especially if motivated by anger.
