Three men have
allegedly gang-raped a 15-year old girl at the Ikorodu area of Lagos, as the
police are alleged to be threatening the victim’s parents to settle the matter
out of court.
The state government had earlier blamed the police for
frustrating rape cases by threatening victims and their families to withdraw
their cases. Two of the men have been arraigned at one of the newly established
Family Courts in Ikeja for allegedly raping the girl.
The suspects are being tried by the Lagos State Office of
the Public Defender, OPD, while the third suspect is still at large. It was
learnt that the victim was lured to No 23, Fola Mustapha Street, in Ajegunle
area of Ikorodu by her classmate (name withheld), a 16-year old girl, on the
pretext that she wanted to return a text book which she had earlier borrowed
from the victim.
The victim was deceived by her friend who had already
arranged with the three suspected rapists to have sex with her forcefully. The
three suspects; Yusuf Mohammed, Rasheed Oyedepo and Tunde were alleged to have
inflicted bodily injury on the girl (name withheld).
It was gathered that the raped girl’s friend deliberately
delayed her classmate for hours and enabled the heinous crime by putting on the
generator set, on the pretext that she needed to charge her phone.
According to the OPD , the victim wanted to take her leave
in annoyance when it was getting too late for the her to return home, but her
friend told her to wait for a while before taking her to a new room where she
was raped in turns by the gang.
While taking turns to rape the girl, the noise from the
generator and the music they were playing prevented the people outside from
hearing the screaming and wailing of the girl. On getting home in a bad
condition, the girl’s mother took her to a private clinic for medical
attention.
She was taken to Ikorodu General Hospital for proper medical
treatment, where it was discovered that her womb had been tampered with at the
private clinic.
The victim was in a critical condition as she was admitted
in the hospital for three days while undergoing blood transfusion. A new twist
has, however, been added to the story as the police has transferred the
suspects, whose cases are already in court, to the State Criminal Investigation
Department, SCID, Panti for investigation, an act the OPD described as
unlawful.
It was gathered that the police had gone to the girl’s
family threatening the mother for taking the case to OPD, after which they
transferred the suspects to SCID, Panti. It would be recalled that the
government has established a clinic where DNA tests will be conducted on rape
victims and suspected rapists to enhance prosecution of the cases.
Source: National Mirror
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