Five male friends have allegedly raped an 18-year-old girl in the Narayi community of Kaduna State.

Our correspondent gathered that while two of the suspects were arrested, the police had allegedly refused to apprehend the others.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the families of the two arrested suspects had been mounting pressure on the victim’s family to drop the case and reportedly offered her mother N15,000 each as damages.

A member of the victim’s family accused the police of aiding the cover-up of the case.

She said, “On April 27, 2020, one of the victim’s male friends called her to come and meet him somewhere. When she got there, she met two other girls and six boys.

“One of the boys had previously asked her for an intimate relationship and when it was time for the other two girls to leave, the victim also stood up to go, but one of the boys asked her not to leave yet that they wanted to talk to her on behalf of the young man asking her out.

“She trusted them and stayed back; they offered her alcohol, which she declined, but they coerced her into taking it after which she lost consciousness. Five of the boys raped her, while the sixth kept threatening his friends to stop or he would report them, but he never did.

“After they had raped her, the boys dropped her around 7pm by the bridge close to the house and called her friends to come and get her, alleging that she had been sleeping since morning. As soon as she got home, she was taken to hospital, because she was unconscious and all necessary tests were conducted and the matter was reported at the Barnawa Police Station that same night.

“The case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department and since then, the police have not arrested the three other boys or invite their parents to the station. The police are making no effort at all to arrest the suspects or question their parents.

“The police have been frustrating the case to the extent that the mother of the victim is already contemplating dropping the case. The parents of the two boys in custody are offering N15,000 each as damages for what their sons have done to the victim and the police have decided to release them on bail.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Jalige, who denied the claim that the police were frustrating the matter, said a manhunt had been launched for the other suspects.

He stated, “The case has been transferred to the state CIID for discreet investigation and so far, we have arrested two suspects in connection with the case. We have launched a serious manhunt for the three fleeing suspects. We are on top of it; we are working to ensure that we arrest the three remaining suspects.

“The other two suspects are in custody and investigation is going on; this is a rape case, nobody will compromise it; we are police officers and we know what we are doing.”

https://www.nairapark.com/news/1589271016/friends-gang-rape-teenager-police-accused-cover

Please kindly do. It should not be taken
With levity.

So this story is this recent?