Seven-year-old Ngozi (pseudonym) is no
longer a child. Her innocence has been stolen by her 41-year-old father,
Emeka Igwe, who not only raped her, but got her addicted to
masturbation.
It was gathered that anytime Ngozi felt
sexual urge and her father was not around to stimulate her, she would
invite boys into her parents’ apartment in the Federal Housing Estate,
Meiran, Ojokoro, Lagos State, to “play with her private parts”.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the
victim’s mother first detected the act in January, 2015, and after
reporting to policemen at the Ojokoro Police Division, the case was
dismissed as a family matter.
The
police reportedly threatened to detain her, while her husband’s family
accused her of inciting her four children against their family.
Emeka, a trader, allegedly continued to
defile his daughter in their apartment until August, when the matter got
to the attention of the estate executive.
The Orlu, Imo State indigene, was
apprehended and reported to the Project Alert on Violence against Women,
a non-governmental organisation, from where the case got to the Area F
Police Command.
Ngozi, who is in primary 3, told PUNCH Metro that her father had been assaulting her since 2014.
She explained that after inserting his
fingers into her private parts, he would press her head down and force
his manhood into her mouth, adding that he always gave her N10 after the
act.
She said her nine-year-old brother, Emeka, sometimes watched from a window.
She said, “My dad does it anytime; in
the morning and in the afternoon. My mum always goes to the market. He
will then give me N10 to buy something.
“He will open his leg and press my head
down and put his private parts into my mouth. After that, he will say I
should scratch his body. He will now carry me down and put his fingers
in my private parts again.
“He started it last year when my mother
was washing clothes and I went to buy something. He asked me to come
into the parlour and told Ebuka, Chioma and Chibuike (her siblings) to
go into the bedroom. I did not know that Ebuka was watching from the
window.”
Her mother, Endurance, told PUNCH Metro she had been married to the suspect for more than 10 years, without knowing he was capable of such act.
The 40-year-old said her first child, Ebuka, had been telling her that Ngozi masturbated, but she never believed it.
“The first time she did it in my
presence was sometime in January, while I was preparing a meal and I saw
her. I beat her up and asked her to stop it because it was bad.
“I later told my husband my observation and he said nothing was wrong with her.
“My four-year-old neighbour’s son came
to our apartment and Ngozi took her to our bedroom and asked the boy to
put his fingers in her private parts. It was the boy’s mother that saw
them.
“I called her and asked if anybody had been playing with her private parts and she said no.”
Endurance said Ebuka later told her what had been happening between father and daughter.
The other children were said to have corroborated Ebuka’s account, before Ngozi also confessed to her mother.
She said she confronted her husband with
the allegation, adding that he got angry and started beating the
children for every slight offence.
She said when she could no longer bear
it, she reported at the Alakuko Police Station, from where she was
referred to the Ojokoro Police Division.
PUNCH Metro learnt that a test
was conducted on the victim at the General Hosptal, Ile Epo, which
showed there was an opening in Ngozi’s private parts.
Endurance said she was advised to run an infection test on her daughter, before her in-laws asked her to withdraw the case.
She said the Divisional Police Officer at Ojokoro threatened to lock her up.
“The DPO said I deliberately set up my husband because he had not been treating me well. I was in tears,” she added.
She said they all returned home and
things went back to normal until in August when her first child reported
to her that their father had started “playing with Ngozi’s private
parts” again.
“I called Ngozi and she told me that her
father had started playing with her private parts. She said he asked
her to kneel down and forced her to suck his private parts.
“Then, two weeks ago while I was washing
clothes, Ebuka came and said their father gave Ngozi N20 and did not
give him anything. After he left, Chioma also came and said the same
thing.
“Later, I called Ngozi to know what made
her father gave her the money. She told me it was N10, adding that he
played with her private parts.”
The neighbours were said to have challenged the suspect, but he denied doing anything to the child.
The community youth leader, Olaitan Adebiyi, told PUNCH Metro that he got to know about the case after eavesdropping on a conversation in the street.
He added that he later met the victim’s mother, who narrated her ordeal to him.
He said, “The estate executive met and
we decided to go to his house to investigate. His co-tenants confirmed
that he had been doing it for a long time. We decided to get him
arrested.
“He came into his apartment around 12.30
on Thursday night, and we decided to keep vigil at his door step till
day break. He was about leaving the house on Friday when we apprehended
him and told him he had a case to answer.”
The suspect, however, denied assaulting his daughter.
He said, “I did not do anything to
Ngozi. The day I called her and gave her N10 to buy biscuit, her
siblings asked me for their own, but I said I was not the one that gave
her the money.
“I have touched her private parts only
once. I did not know the time it happened. I touched her last year. I
said, ‘Amaka, remove your pants. Why did you soil your pants?’ I then
took water and washed her. That was all.”
The Director of Project Alert, Mrs. Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, said the group was ready to take up the case.
“This is a clear case of sexual abuse,
and we are having an epidemic in our hand. Hardly a week goes by without
us having cases of children between the ages of three to seven being
defiled.
“It is clear that this woman and her
children can no longer live with him. The victim is seven and she has a
five-year-old younger sister, and if this is not well handled, this man
will move on to the little girl as well.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Patricia Amadin, confirmed the incident.
She said, “The case is confirmed. The suspect has also confessed to the crime, especially after his first son said he saw him.
“We will be transferring the case to the Area G Command, Ogba. Investigation is ongoing, and justice will be done.
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