Three men have been arrested for raping and impregnating a
14-year-old girl in the Agric, Ikorodu area of Lagos State. The suspects –
Kingsley Oke, Henry Osadere and Francis Ekwe – were arrested in the Majidun,
Ikorodu area of Lagos State, before they were transferred to the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja.
The suspects, who lived in the same area with the parents of
the teenager, identified only as Ijeoma, allegedly raped the girl in August
2016, after the mother went for a vigil. Subsequently, the primary 6 pupil, was
later discovered by the mother to be pregnant, and she reported to the police
at the Owutu division.
The police said the three men were arrested on September 9,
2016.
Ijeoma said one of the suspects threatened to kill her if
she disclosed the rape to anyone. “It was Uncle Kingsley (Oke) who first raped
me. On that evening, he called me and said he would send me on an errand. When
I went to his room, he immediately locked the door.
"I started begging him, but he forcefully carried me to his
bed and raped me. On the second occasion, it was one man called Baba
Ijebu that molested me. I had been sent to his house to collect an
item.
"While in his house, he raped me. I cried, but he said I
would die if I told anyone. The third man was Henry (Osadere). I don’t want to
talk about it again," she told The Punch.
Forty-three-year-old Osadere, however, denied raping Ijeoma,
saying she was a wayward girl.
He said, "She came to my place and said she had many
boyfriends. I asked how a teenager like her had several boyfriends. Anytime she
came to my apartment, she would steal some items. That was why I sent her away.
"“I was surprised that she said I was one of those who raped
her. She said she had a three-month-old pregnancy. I don’t know the other
suspects. The girl lied against me. She knows the people who messed around with
her. It was because I stopped her from coming to my house that she lied against
me."
Oke, a welder, said, "I have known the girl since 2014. She
usually came to my house to play. She is a wayward girl. Everyone knows about
her promiscuity. I never raped her."
Ekwe, said Ijeoma and her mother had begged him in August to
borrow them some money, which he did, adding that he did not rape the girl.
The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said
the suspects would be charged to court at the end of investigations.
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