In
the emergency ward of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos,
21-year-old Oye Adeleke was lying on a bed like every other patient who
had suffered different degrees of fracture to their limbs from
accidents.
But Adeleke’s case is peculiar. In fact, the story
behind how he landed in the hospital had circulated around the ward.
Some of those who were discussing the issue when our correspondent
visited him, used the word “karma” to describe his fate.
On
January 18, 2014, Adeleke, who is an apprentice meat seller at Tinubu
Market in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, allegedly added his name to a long list of
sexual predators walking the streets of Lagos.
That day, which
would change the life of 12-year-old Bisola (not real name) forever, was
when Adeleke ambushed the young girl and raped her for one hour.
When
our correspondent visited the ailing girl at her parent’s home in Gowon
Estate, Ipaja area of Lagos, she gave a sordid detail of her ordeal at
the hands of Adeleke, which later landed her in the surgical ward of the
Igando General Hospital.
Adeleke was eventually arrested but in
his attempt to escape from the police custody, he was hit by a moving
vehicle when he ran across the road.
Adeleke’s boss supplies meat
to Bisola’s mother, a food vendor. It was learnt that the suspect had
on occasions delivered meat to the girl’s mother.
Bisola, a shy
girl, who looked at her toes as she spoke, said, “I followed a friend to
buy sugar in the market (she sells sugar to assist her family) and when
I was coming, he (Adeleke) told me to follow him to their shop to
collect meat for my mother. I followed him but I did not enter the shop.
“There
was nobody else around. It was after 7pm. He told me to enter but I
said he should bring out the meat. He then said I should take the meat
from the freezer. As I attempted to open the freezer, he grabbed me and
tied a cloth over my face and mouth.
“He held me down and pulled off my pants. He did not leave me until around 8.30pm. I could not shout. The place was dark.”
The girl paused, her eyes moist with tears as she narrated the story. “I am happy a vehicle hit him,” she said.
Each
word spoken by Bisola seemed to come out with tremendous pain. It was
clear the girl would rather not remember the detail of the experience
her young body and mind had been put through.
Bisola was raped
for an hour by her estimation. She said she remembered the time Adeleke
finally released her because she had to look at the clock on the wall
of the shop because she knew her mother would have been looking for her.
The
young girl rushed out of her captor’s embrace bleeding and bruised.
But shame and confusion would not allow her to go straight to her
mother.
Her mother told Newsmen that she had expected her to
return but when she did not, she retired to bed, thinking that her
daughter must have stayed late in her friend’s house.
“I heard her enter the house later. But around 3am, she started to sob loudly,” she said.
Both mother and daughter live in a small decrepit wooden shack around Gowon Estate.
When
the woman went to check on her daughter, she noticed her underwear was
soaked in blood. which had started running down her legs.
She was
about to scream but quickly changed her mind because she was afraid of
alerting her husband, Bisola’s step-father, to what had happened.
“But
by morning, I could not hide it anymore. She told me the person
responsible for it and around 5am, we went to report at the Gowon Estate
Police Division, Ipaja. The man was later arrested,” the woman said.
Bisola
was taken to the hospital and a doctor who examined her immediately
recommended surgery to repair her damaged private part. After the
surgery, she was on admission for two days.
The doctor’s report
obtained by our correspondent indicated that she was brought to the
hospital “bleeding profusely from second degree laceration in her
private part and broken hymen.”
But a day after the young man was arrested, he was released by the police.
Director
of the Esther Child Rights Foundation, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, said she
intervened in the matter when the victim’s step brother reported the
incident to her.
She told Newsmen, “It was really absurd that he
would be released that way. I could not believe that in the face of the
increasing child abuse and molestation being reported every day, the
police could still release a suspect without promptly charging him to
court.
“The girl was raped on a Saturday; by Monday, the man was
arrested. But by Wednesday, the family said they went to the police
station and were informed by the investigating police officer that he
had been released.
“I informed the Lagos Public Advice Centre of
the development and officials of the centre contacted the police
division. The IPO was forced to rearrest the boy. I just wonder if the
police have heard of the Child Rights Act.”
One of the reasons
for enacting the Child Rights Act in 2003 is to stem the tide of child
abuse and molestation in Nigeria and reinforce the legal provision
against it.
Adeleke was rearrested and locked up preparatory to his transfer to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.
But
the suspect had a different idea. He decided to escape. As soon as the
IPO turned her back, Adeleke ran out of the station and was about to
cross the road when he was hit by a commercial bus.
Of course, the bus did not stop, as he would later tell our correspondent in the hospital.
An OP Mesa military team, who saw him injured on the road took him to the hospital.
Asked why he decided to escape, he said, “I was just afraid. I did not know that it would become such a serious matter.”
But
when he was asked why he raped the girl when he could have paid to
sleep with a commercial sex worker, he said he did not rape her.
“I
did not rape her sir. She is my girlfriend. We have been dating since
early last year. She always called me ‘okobo’ (a Yoruba word for
eunuch),” he said.
Bisola’s mother would later refute this claim
as a concocted story because she only moved to Ipaja with her daughter
in August 2013.
Adeleke disputed that Bisola is just 12 years old which makes her a minor.
He
said Bisola had told him that she was 18 years old. But when our
correspondent met the girl, there was nothing to indicate that a man
could be fooled into thinking she could even be up to 15 years old.
The
suspect said, “That day, I went to buy fuel and she followed me. When I
returned home, I told her to leave but she would not. She was tickling
me and calling me okobo.
“I told her to leave and I saw her off
but she came back and started tickling me again. I then decided to do
it. But when I pulled off her underwear and realised she was still a
virgin, I decided to leave her but she started taunting me again. Then I
did it. I did not know that she would bleed like that and that it would
become a police matter.”
When asked why she blindfolded and muffled the girl’s mouth with a piece of cloth, Adeleke denied doing that.
The young man, who said he was an indigene of Abeokuta, only finished primary school.
We
learnt that since Adeleke got to the hospital, his relations had not
come to pay for his treatment. The hospital is planning to discharge him
prematurely. It was learnt that his treatment had been stopped.
But there is fear that Adeleke might escape if discharged as the IPO had only visited the suspect once.
Adeleke said his mother was late but added that his brother and boss were looking for money to offset his medical bills.
Meanwhile, Bisola’s mother and step-father have changed course on the case.
When
our correspondent visited them on Sunday, the step-father, who did not
hide his anger, said he had no money to prosecute the suspect.
“They
should release him. I don’t have any money to move around to prosecute
anybody. We have spent enough money already. Nobody should come and
disturb me again,” he said.
Bisola’s step-father, who did not
seem to be literate, was told that prosecuting Adeleke was not his job
but that of the police and that he did not have to spend money.
“What
about moving here and there when the police call us or when we need to
go to court? The man himself is poor. It is not worth it,” he said.
Bisola’s mother, who seemed helpless in the face of her husband’s attitude, also concurred.
“We spent money on her treatment; we have even incurred debt. We will leave the matter to God,” she said.
Child
sexual abuse in Nigeria is on the rise but there seems to be no
dedication on the part of the police to ensure proper prosecution.
The
IPO in this case, a policewoman named Patricia, promptly directed our
correspondent to her boss, the divisional police officer, when contacted
on the case.
When our correspondent contacted the Divisional
Police Officer of Gowon Estate, Mr. Segun Titiladunayo, he said he had
not got any report that the hospital was preparing to discharge the
suspect.
“I am very grateful for this information. He might
escape if he is discharged without our knowledge. I will draft my men
there right now to ensure that he is not given the opportunity to
escape,” he said.
Ogwu said it was unfortunate that the financial
status of the families of victims prevents such victims from getting
necessary care.
“For instance, in this case, the doctor’s report
indicates that the girl should be brought back for HIV screening and
Hepatitis B screening, but you can be sure that is not going to happen
if we leave the matter in the hands of the parents. This is why we
decided to get the government involved,” she said.
She had
written a formal letter to the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and
Poverty Alleviation to take over the girl’s case.
