In the emergency ward of the National Orthopedic 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 Saturday PUNCH 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. “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 re-arrest 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. When asked why he decided to escape, he said, “I was just afraid. I did
not know that it would become such a serious matter. I did not rape her. She is
my girlfriend. We have been dating since early last year,” he said.
Bisola’s mother later refuted 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. 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 realized 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 he blindfolded and muffled the girl’s
mouth with a piece of cloth, Adeleke denied doing that.
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.
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.
Today's PUNCH
