Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
It has often been reported that one in four girls and one in ten boys, have experienced sexual violence before the age of 18 in Nigeria. In an effort to curb the rampaging menace in the country, the Nigerian government has established several agencies, as well as enacts strict punishment for offenders.
Section 218, chapter 21, part 4 of the criminal code, of the federal republic of Nigeria states that any person who attempts or has unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under age of 13, has committed the offence of felony and is liable to life imprisonment.
Despite these laws and the effort of federal government agencies to curb the menace, some persons, who hide under the influence of Satan, continue to commit this offence leaving defenseless children at the mercy of their perpetrators.
This is the situation of Blessing (other names withheld), an 11 year old minor who lives with her step sister Favour Odjugo, in Abraka area of Delta State.
Favour discovered that Blessing was defiled when she observed that her body was having strange changes, causing her to inquire what was wrong. After much persuasion, Blessing opened up to her and told her what she had been going through in the hands of Ochise.
According to Favour, Blessing was defiled severally by a tout named Ochuko Atikimi-imi, who is best known on the street as Ochise. According to her Elder sister, trouble started when she sent Blessing on an errand, and she took longer than expected to return back home. She noted that Blessing told her that she was defiled at the toilet by Ochise.
It was further found at the hospital that Blessing was not a virgin and she is having a pungent odor from her private part.
SecretReporters gathered that Blessing’s family had reported the case to the police, and the perpetrators family sort to settle the case amicably, with an offer to pay the victim’s family the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand naira (N120,000), an agreement they have failed to live up to.
Meanwhile, an insider source told SecretReporters that the victim’s step dad told the perpetrator’s family that the N120,000.00 is for the victim’s dowry. “What does a minor know about marriage that her evil step dad wants to collect 120k as dowry? It’s not as if he is the one that birthed the victim,” the source lamented.
She added that “I am pained; I want you to help us get justice. My instinct tells me that the case would be manipulated, please have mercy and use your connection to help us get justice”.
The source further revealed that “Before her dad died, I heard that someone had carnal knowledge of her at the compound they lived in before the dad died at Airport junction. I was told that a certain grown up man whose mom was told to look after the victim whenever her late dad went out, slept with her.”
This, she said was among the reasons she was relocated to Abraka. “I think (not certain though) the victim has been infected with an STI, her sister just told me that she reeks of fish stench oozing from her private part,” the source said.
“I couldn’t do anything because we are not blood relations and I am very scared of the man that I was told slept with her at the former compound they lived in,” she added.
As of the time of filing this report, Favor expressed serious concerns of the health condition of Blessing, allaying fears that she might die soon.
