A motorcycle rider, Benjamin Akande, has been arrested by the police for allegedly defiling a six-year-old girl in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that while the girl’s parents were away, the victim and her younger brother were placed in the care of their landlady on July 27, 2018, when the incident happened.
It was learnt that the six-year-old went missing when the landlady went for Jumat (Congregational prayer by Muslims, usually every Friday).
She was later found on the premises of a school behind the house.
Her father, Olaniyi, said after interrogation, his daughter confessed that she had been raped by Akande.
He said, “I am a commercial bus driver. I usually leave home very early and return earlier than my wife, who sells food. For the time we are away, we keep our two children with our landlady.
“On Friday, my bus developed a fault and I got home almost at the same time as my wife. On getting home, our landlady said she had been searching for our daughter before she went for Jumat. We continued the search for her in the compound without any success.
“When we eventually found her, she said a man sent her to buy groundnut and kept her in his room afterwards. She said the man gagged her mouth with a cloth so that she would not shout.
“She said he undressed her before defiling her. When he was done, he took her to a school behind our house and poured sand on her head, instructing her that when asked where she had been, she should say she had been playing in the school compound.”
Olaniyi said they immediately seized the 30-year-old suspect and handed him over to the police, adding that the victim was taken to the hospital the following day where it was confirmed that her hymen had been broken.
The Deputy Coordinator of a non-governmental organisation, Child Protection Network, Lateef Akinborode, said his group had taken up the case, adding that the suspect would be prosecuted.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, said the case had been transferred to the gender unit of the command.
He said, “Investigation is ongoing and the case would be taken to court at the conclusion of investigation.”
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