•Kassim, one of the suspected rapists
The three men suspected to have raped her are Kassim Mohammed, 43, who is married and has three kids, Oluwatobi Daramola and James Aniekan who is a son of a pastor.
The trio allegedly engaged the little girl in serial sex between July 2012 and January 2013 without the knowledge of her guardians.
Daramola, popularly called Tobi and Aniekan, are said to be about 21 and 19 years old respectively, but they claimed to be 17 while Mohammed is 43.
They are facing charge of defilement and having unlawful carnal knowledge of the little girl at Ikeja Magistrate’s Court, Lagos.
Daramola and Aniekan were charged before Magistrate Mrs E. B. Daudu of Ikeja Magistrate ‘s Court, Lagos.
The court ordered the little girl to be remanded at Child Correctional Centre, Yaba, following an application made by a police prosecutor Anthonia, who told the court that the order was necessary because her guardians could not take proper care of her, which made her vulnerable to sexual assault.
It took the intervention of the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Lagos High Court, Mr A.O. Isaacs ,who requested Daodu to order for the release of the victim before the little girl rejoined her family.
The little girl’s ordeal in the hands of the three men started when she was only 6 years old.
The victim, who lives with her aunt Ngozi Ugwu and her husband at Isheri area of Lagos, said her problem began when her aunt travelled to Abuja to give birth and she was left in the care of her uncle (her aunt’s husband).
Narrating her ordeal in the hands of the men, the victim said one of the suspects, Tobi, met her and her uncle along their street when they were going to their shop. She said the suspect greeted her uncle and she also greeted him.
She said: “The next day, my uncle told me to stay at home, eat and do my home work. He said he would be back at home very soon, that he wanted to go and collect money from his shop.”
She said she was alone in their apartment because her aunt had travelled and when she went downstairs to buy biscuit, Tobi saw her and said “fine girl how are you.”
She said he bought her gala sausage roll and a bottle of soft drink and asked her to show him her house, which she did.
She alleged that when she was in bed and was about to sleep, Tobi sneaked into her house and started dipping his finger into her private part and later forcefully had sex with her and left.
“The next day, Tobi, James and a small boy came to our house. They pulled my pant and started put their fingers again inside my bum-bum (that is they thrust their fingers into her private part).
“The next day, Tobi and James came again without the small boy. They now put their wee-wee (penis) inside my bum-bum (private part). Another day again, Tobi came with Kassim. Kassim was holding a knife and a pack of Five-Alive and Gala.
“Tobi left but Kassim put his wee-wee inside my bum-bum. He said that if I shouted he would kill me with the knife. When Kassim finished, he said I should show him my bathroom. I showed him and he bathed. After bathing, he said I should bring a glass cup. He shared the Five-Alive with me. He also gave me four wraps of Gala while he took two. He told me to throw the empty pack of Five-Alive into a dustbin,” the victim narrated.
The girl said that Kassim left after he had made sure that she discarded the empty pack of the juice into the dustbin.
The victim, who had gotten used to being violated sexually every day was relieved temporarily, escaped being abused the next day by the suspects, as she went on holiday at Igando area.
She narrated that when she came back from the holiday and her aunt came from her trip, the sexual assault continued whenever she was sent on errand by her aunt.
She said on her way she met Kassim who forced her into his house and had sex with her.
“The next day I wanted to go and buy biscuit for my little brother (the aunt’s son) and Tobi saw me. He asked me to follow him to his house,” she said, claiming that Tobi threatened that if she refused, he would make sure she got lost and so would not see her parents again.
The frightened girl said she followed Tobi to his house while carrying her two-year old cousin along.
She said Tobi defiled her once again and when he finished, he told her to go and bathe in his bathroom, but she left with her brother to buy the biscuit.
“My aunt asked me why I came back late. I told her that there were many people that wanted to buy things from the Mallam (the man selling provisions in their area).
She said she did not report all these things to her aunt and her husband because Kassim threatened to deal with her if she mentioned his name.
When the victim’s aunt was questioned about the incident, she said the ordeal of her little niece started when she was away in Abuja to give birth.
She said that she was in Abuja between June and August last year, and even had to return to Abuja for medical attention because she developed some complications after she had given birth through a Caesarean section, adding that the victim was left in the care of her husband and a cousin while she was in Abuja.
She said it was in January this year, while she was going through the little girl’s clothes that she discovered that two of the girl’s underwears had blood stains, then she suspected that something was amiss.
She said that she had to persuade her niece until she told her about what James who worked in a barber’s shop nearby did to her.
She said that the victim confessed that James defiled her on many occasions and threatened to deal with her if she revealed what he had done to her.
The victim’s aunt said: “Immediately I was informed, I called my pastor and told him what happened. He called one of the members of our church who is a policewoman. The woman said I had to go to Ikotun Police Station to officially report the case.”
After the police had interviewed the victim, the police arrested James but according to the woman, James‘s father, a pastor, tried to defend his son, insisting that James could not have defiled the girl.
James was detained and arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court, where he was granted bail.
James allegedly confessed to the police that he did it. But James’s father allegedly maintained that he made the statement under duress.
While James’ matter was still in the court, her guardians did not know that she had been raped several times by more than one person.
“It was two weeks later that we discovered that there were others who had raped her,” the victim’s aunt revealed.
She said she heard her two-year old son ordering the victim to lie down in bed.
She wondered how a two-year old boy could talk like that. So she asked the victim where the boy learnt that expression from.
The aunt said: “She was just staring at me. I insisted and threatened her that she should answer me. It was then she told me it was Tobi that said that to her in the presence of the boy. I started shouting and asked if the little boy was watching when Tobi was defiling her. She said yes, that Tobi ordered him to look at the dressing mirror in his room. It was then she told me about Kassim.”
However, there was a delay in the proceeding of the case as the victim’s aunt alleged that the police were reluctant to arrest the suspects.
She alleged that to stall the case, Tobi’s parents alleged that she wanted to extort money from them while Kassim’s wife claimed that her husband was not in Lagos.
The aunt claimed that the police were no longer working in the interest of the victim, even when Tobi was arraigned before the magistrate’s court presided over by Mrs. Daudu.
Consequently, the family of the victim, who no longer has trust in the police to prosecute the three suspects, is making efforts to get the state government to take over the case from the police.
The matter has now been transferred to family court at Ikeja.
