‘How my 13-year-old niece was defiled by 32-year-old welder’

A petty trader, Mrs Mojisola Oyelola, on Wednesday narrated at an Ikeja High Court how her 13-year-old niece was defiled by a 32-year-old welder, Adewunmi Adetuyi. Adetuyi, whose address is unknown, is facing a charge of defilement before Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye. 

Oyelola, while being led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Mr Jide Boye, told the court that the defilement occurred in 2014. 

He said:“My 13-year-old niece was defiled by a 32-year-old welder on March 17, 2014. “On that fateful day, I made a wheat meal for dinner, but my niece told me she was not interested in eating it.

 “I gave her money to buy rice from a canteen three houses away from our home. “She left the house about 7.30 p.m. and at about 9.00 p.m. when she had not returned, I became very worried.” 

Oyelola told the court that she alerted her neighbours, who organised a search party for her ward . “I could not go with my neighbours for the search because I was battling with an illness. 

“A few minutes after 11.00 p.m., the neighbours returned with her and I asked where she went and she told me that she was waylaid on her way to the canteen and taken away by someone. 

“I asked her who took her away and she refused to tell me, so I asked the neighbours to give her a punishment known as ‘frog jump.” The petty trader said while her niece was being punished, the neighbours noticed that her dress was stained by blood. 

“She told me that she was taken to an uncompleted building and raped by a welder who was known to her but unknown to me. 

“We went to the police station at midnight and the police advised that my niece should not have her bath or remove her cloth to preserve the evidence and that we should go to a hospital as soon as possible,” she said. 

Oyelola said the welder was apprehended at his workshop by neighbours the following morning. Oyelola, while being cross-examined by the defense counsel, Mr Nwoha Nwabaka, told the court that her niece was mensturating during the alleged assault. 

She said:“My niece was in the middle of her menstrual cycle when she was defiled. 

“After the incident, she moved to her uncle’s house at the Tollgate area of Badagry due to the trauma.” Justice Ipaye adjourned the case to March 24 for continuation of trial.