… Father of victim seeks justice
Four men allegedly abducted, drugged and raped a 15-year-old teenager at the Igando area of Lagos State. The young lady has been found according to her father.
The teenager was found last Friday, five days after she went missing and a search party was raised by her family.
The victim’s father, Tony, said his daughter had just finished sitting her West African Senior Secondary School Examination and was on her way to church when she was abducted.
He said the victim was going to the Saint John Catholic Church, Igando, when four men in a Toyota Camry, who pretended to give her a lift, drove her away.
Tony said the teenager was in the company of her siblings when the incident happened.
He said, “My other children said on their way to church, they greeted the people who were in the car and they asked where they were going and they said church. So, they said they should get in the car that they were also heading in the same direction.
“But after their eldest sister entered the car, they sped off and her other siblings started shouting, ‘Sister, where are you going to?’ Immediately, they wound up the glass and even when she was shouting for help, nobody could hear her.
“After searching for her throughout Monday and Tuesday, I reported a case of a missing person at the Ikotun Police Station and the search for her continued. We posted her picture on different WhatsApp groups until a church member saw the post on Friday and sent us the number plate of the car that was used to abduct my daughter.
“The church member said he saw when my daughter entered the car and he immediately wrote down the number plate of the car, but he didn’t know that she was abducted, adding that he saw the street where the car entered.
“We went to the street, Aiye Omere, Igando. When we got there, we saw the car and my daughter, where she was kept, drugged and was being raped by the four men from Monday till Friday between 4pm and 5pm when we got there.
“My daughter was not herself; the only thing she was able to tell her mother was that they kept drugging and raping her and whenever they were going out, they would drug her and then she would fall asleep until they returned.”
The victim’s father said one of the suspects was identified as Ifeanyi the Great, adding that the police arrested some of the culprits.
He noted that a classmate of the victim who lived on the street where she was violated was also arrested.
“After we found my daughter, we took her to the Igando General Hospital so she could be examined, but she was rejected. They said we should come back on Monday, but a family member told us to go to Mirabel Centre at Ikeja and not wait till Monday.
“I want justice for my daughter. I want all those involved in the abduction, drugging and raping of my daughter to be punished for the violence they committed against her,” he added.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident.
He said, “A case of abduction of a 15-year-old girl who was drugged and raped was transferred from the Ikotun Police Station to the gender unit at the state police headquarters. The outcome of police investigation will determine the next line of action.”
Abduction and rape of teenage girls have been on the increase in the country.
In February 2021, men of the Lagos State Police Command arrested four suspects for gang-raping a teenager in the Ejigbo area of the state.
The suspects, who were also teenagers, allegedly attacked the victim on her way to buy food.
In July 2022, the police in Ogun State also arrested three men for allegedly gang-raping a 15-year-old girl while forcing her into a cult.
The victim was running an errand for her mother when she was waylaid and abducted by the cult members.
The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said there was an increase in formal and informal reporting of sexual and gender-based violence.
She said, “In the unfortunate instance where sexual violence occurs, the survivor is encouraged to immediately go to a designated health facility to receive medical attention and counselling.
“The survivor is also encouraged to report the case at a designated police station because these issues are criminal and securing conviction is one of the ways of ending the culture of impunity.”
