VICTOR AYENI writes concerning the dehumanising remedy confronted by means of sufferers of rape and their people participants, the disappointment they undergo when denied justice, and the deep-seated ache of visible culprits i’m ready independent by means of the police roam freely with out thorough investigation
As Mr Samuel Olajide sat within the dimly lit lounge of his area in Egbeda, Lagos Environment, he used to be engulfed in a mix of enrage and adversity.
Clenching his arms into fists, he recounted the traumatising ordeal of his 17-year-old daughter (title withheld) to our correspondent.
“A suspect broke into our home, sexually assaulted my daughter and stole N180,000,” he mentioned with indignation.
A part of Olajide’s gesticulations depicted a father pained by means of his failure to offer protection to his daughter from the prying visible of kid intercourse predators.
The daddy of 3 felt he may have prevented the incident that stole his daughter’s chastity however on July 11, 2023, destiny had alternative plans.
“My spouse and I have been at paintings when the sorrowful incident took place my daughter. She used to be studying the Bible when all of sudden, she heard some footsteps. She pulled the curtains however didn’t see someone. After, she was at the room, undressed to remove her tub, however started listening to ordinary sounds from the kitchen.
“As my daughter went to the kitchen to check, a guy dashed out from the dark, and as she quickly made to lock the door from the inside, the intruder forced the kitchen door open, dragged her into the living room, and landed heavy blows on her head. When I got home and knocked at the gate, no one responded.”
Olajide, who additionally runs a farm in his compound mentioned sooner or later when he discovered his means into the lounge, he used to be horrified to look his daughter mendacity subconscious at the flooring with a damaged dish and a jar of damaged hair cream mendacity beside her.
He mentioned, “My daughter used to be mendacity bare at the flooring. Her garments have been torn and dipped within her mouth, and her face used to be lined with mucus. I checked for her pulse and noticed that it used to be nonetheless beating, so I temporarily referred to as a physician pal and he steered me on what to do.
“Next being revived, she described her attacker as a imposing, thin, fair-complexioned younger guy with a mark on his hand, and black spots and zits on his face. She added that he wore a inexperienced supremacy and a couple of denims.
“The case was reported to the Isheri Police Division and my daughter was taken to the Sexual Assault Centre at Igando General Hospital for proper care and treatment.”
Consistent with the daddy of 3, the descriptions of the attacker given by means of his daughter and some other resident matched that of a tender guy within the segment known as Osunyomi (surname withheld).
Osunyomi’s live-in pal (title withheld) disclosed that at the morning of July 11, his spouse all of sudden returned house, claiming he had modified his thoughts about moving to paintings.
Government conceived that he beggarly into Olajide’s area on that very same month and on July 18, the police arrested Osunyomi at his place of job.
Consistent with the 17-year-old sufferer, the blouse he wore at the month of his arrest used to be the similar one he wore when he beggarly into their house and sexually violated her.
“The case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, and all the evidence gathered, handed over to an investigative police officer identified simply as Femi at the Anti-Trafficking Unit,” Olajide perceivable.
Suspect exempted
Talking additional with Saturday PUNCH, the distraught father mentioned upcoming he paid N25,000 for the suspect’s fingerprint and footprint to be taken into document and the case registered with the police, the IPO steered him to organize a automobile for them to discuss with the crime scene, which he did.
He mentioned, “Next being compelled to pay N15,000 for a automobile in their selection, they didn’t flip up. In lieu, they was at the suspect’s place of job and spent hours there earlier than coming to my area. Next 3 weeks, I didn’t listen from them. Upcoming on Monday, September 18, I went there with a attorney.
“When one of the most policemen on the place of job, Supol Kazeem, noticed me, he abash and despatched me away. It used to be after I reported to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, SCID, Panti that the policeman later took my attorney to his place of job for a gathering.
“When my lawyer returned, he disclosed that Kazeem had released the suspect because he believed they were lying against the suspect. He also told my lawyer that the report showed the suspect didn’t touch my daughter. It was at that point that I called the Commissioner of Police, the Ministry of Justice and the NBA at the time, to intervene and get justice for my daughter.”
Olajide mentioned he’s extra pained that the suspect now strikes freely within the segment, a construction which nonetheless traumatises his daughter to time.
He mentioned, “I am so angry and sad right now,” Olajide blurted. “My daughter is dejected and I’m disenchanted within the police. The suspect used to be freed and the case has long past chilly since September.
“I used to be the person who performed a lot of the investigation and came upon that the suspect and his pal, Femi, have been criminals or even their landlord showed this. Their home is akin to mine; the suspect entered my compound the usage of the fence on the again and he admitted that he have been tracking us and knew when my spouse and I was at paintings that Tuesday.
“Now, this guy even threatens me openly, saying there is nothing we can do to him anymore. There are days I feel like taking laws into my hands. What kind of a system is this? My life and that of my daughter is still not safe because this man still walks freely out there.”
In the meantime, in October 2023, the Government Secretary of the Lagos Environment Home and Sexual Violence Company, Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, when contacted by means of our correspondent, suggested the people to record the case to the company and the Gender Table Segment of the environment police command.
“They can visit our office located at Nobel House, Plot 3, Otunba Jobi Fele Way, Central Business District, to ensure the victim can access holistic support and services,” she wrote in a textual content message despatched to our correspondent.
When contacted for an replace at the case, the environment Police People Family members Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, didn’t resolution the decision made to his cell quantity and didn’t reply to a textual content message despatched to him.
Raped in police station
In some other construction on June 29, a 17-year-old secondary faculty scholar used to be allegedly raped by means of an Associate Superintendent of Police known merely as Owolabi on the Ogudu Police Station in Ojota, Lagos.
The senior officer had reportedly promised to aid the sufferer monitor and retrieve her telephone stolen at gunpoint about two weeks previous.
Narrating how the incident came about, {the teenager} mentioned, “On that Saturday when he asked me to come to Ogudu Police Division where he works, saying policemen had arrested the suspect who stole my phone, my mother was in the market and I didn’t even know the station, I had to ask for directions to the place.”
Our correspondent learnt that after the lady confirmed up on the police station, the suspect invited her into his place of job, locked the door, and allegedly raped her.
“Next raping me in his place of job, he got rid of my footwear and made me take a seat at the flooring. I started to feel sorry about coming to the station and even making an attempt to retrieve my telephone within the first playground. He harshly informed me to withdraw from his seeing.
“He told me, ‘Did you see that everyone here calls me the boss and obeys me? You can’t do anything.’ When I walked out of the police station, he still followed me outside and warned me that if I said a word to anyone, he would deal with me,” {the teenager} informed our correspondent in tears.
In an emotion-laden pitch, her mom, Aramide Olupona, informed our correspondent that her daughter started to bleed upcoming the rape and used to be i’m in a hurry to health facility for remedy.
She mentioned, “At the night of that Saturday, she started complaining of abdomen ache, however by means of Sunday she started to bleed. We went to 2 hospitals however they couldn’t supervise us as a result of their medical doctors have been both busy or weren’t to be had.
“We was at Gbaja Sanatorium, the place we have been attended to and from there we was at the Mirabel Centre on the Lagos Environment Instructing Sanatorium for scientific assessments and number of proof. All her scientific stories are there.
“Owolabi lives on the Iponri Police Barrack and my store is beside his area, so he every so often comes to sit down at my store. I by no means anticipated that he would do this kind of factor to my daughter or that he have been observing her. She’s no longer wayward or an outgoing lady.
“After the incident, his numbers were switched off and the Area Commander told me his whereabouts were unknown. Even when the Lagos State Domestic Violence Agency tried to reach him, his number was unreachable. We wrote petitions but there was no response,” Olupona said.
Next the tale used to be printed on July 13, many social media customers expressed outrage on the case and the allegation that the police had tried to safeguard up the crime.
Please see month, Hundeyin issued a remark noting that the officer had became himself in and have been arrested.
“The command assures the public that there is no attempt at a cover-up as such hideous acts are at variance with the code of conduct and professional ethics of the Nigeria Police Force,” Hundeyin said.
Questionable hush on check effects
Olupona informed our correspondent {that a} DNA pattern used to be taken from the accused policeman and likewise from her daughter as a part of necessities for scientific assessments and so they have been informed the end result could be in a position inside of 48 hours.
After that moment, Hundeyin disclosed the usage of his verified take care of on X.com, “A scientific exam has been performed at the 17-year-old lady. The outcome remains to be being awaited.
“If the results cannot prove anything, it would be difficult to secure a conviction in court. The same procedure would be followed if you were the accused.”
Please see moment, the Lagos Environment Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, additionally mentioned the command used to be watching for the scientific record of the check, including that the accused policeman has been issued a question and is recently beneath detention.
However for the sufferer’s mom, the awaited scientific end result used to be starting to look like a conspiracy of hush.
She mentioned, “They conserve announcing they’re looking ahead to the scientific end result, however I used to be individually informed at Mirabel Centre, the place the check used to be performed that its end result could be in a position in 48 hours. Have a look at the calendar, we are actually in some other generation. Why has the suspect no longer been charged in court docket?
“Thus far, there was refuse communique with us or indication of the place the case is headed. Let me inform you one thing, they need to bury this example and they’re being complicit in hush.
“If they are not, they should charge the suspect in court. My daughter has not been herself anymore. The police should fear God and do what is right. We want justice. This evil should not be covered up.”
Defilement case stalled
In Would possibly, a Lagos-based mom, Rita Ebirim, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, accused her brother-in-law of defiling her five-year-old daughter.
She defined that her estranged husband had filed for break-up on August 2, 2022, and time looking ahead to the trial, she used to be ordered by means of the court docket to permit the daddy to have get entry to to their daughter.
The mummy mentioned the brother-in-law allegedly defiled her daughter throughout her 2nd discuss with to her father.
She mentioned, “Someday in February closing yr, he got here to select her up for the primary life within the morning and returned her within the night. That month, I sensed one thing used to be flawed with my lady and I voiced my dubiousness to my attorney however he waved it off.
“The upcoming life, he got here to remove her to discuss with him and he or she returned to me at night time past the speculated life. After, after I sought after to wash her, she began crying, driven my arms away and mentioned I shouldn’t contact her ‘there’.
“When I asked her who touched her there, she told me her uncle. When I called her father, he said he (the uncle) didn’t do anything to her and instructed me to take the girl to the hospital knowing full well that it was late at night. After she was examined at two hospitals, the doctors said she had bruises on her private parts, because she had been sexually molested.”
Our correspondent accrued that the case used to be reported on the Ketu Police Station and the LSDVA.
“Although the suspect was arrested, he was later released on bail, and up till now, we are still awaiting a hearing in court. The case has needlessly dragged on and it feels like justice is elusive,” Ebirim added.
When contacted in regards to the case, Vivour-Adeniyi, disclosed {that a} forensic interview have been performed for the kid and that the case have been referred to the Directorate of People Prosecutions.
Talking with our correspondent on Tuesday, Mrs Ebirim defined, “I nonetheless spoke with Vivour-Adeniyi this morning concerning the case. I needed to get some other attorney and we’ve written to the Lawyer-Common, however we nonetheless haven’t heard the rest from them.
“I will see that the case has excess energy on it. The DPP is able to paintings however she needs to get to the bottom of who precisely is the individual that is stalling this example.
“Nothing has been done on the matter yet but we still keep pushing. I feel traumatised because my little girl has been through so much and I am ready to go to any length to get justice for her.”
Scary statistics
In Would possibly, the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics record titled, ‘Statistical Report on Women and Men in Nigeria 2022,’ perceivable that the proportion of ladies who revel in rape higher every year.
“In 2020, 29.00 in step with cent of ladies have been sufferers of rape, which higher considerably in 2021 and 2022 to 48.00 in step with cent and 65.00 in step with cent respectively.
“Meanwhile, across the states, FCT had the highest in 2020 with 10.00 per cent, and Benue State recorded the highest incidence of rape for females in both 2021 and 2022 with 15.00 per cent and 12.00 per cent respectively,” part of the record said.
Additionally, information acquired by means of The PUNCH Newspaper indicated that Lagos Environment has skilled a surprising surge in sexual and gender-based violence over the year 5 years.
The record confirmed that reported circumstances rose regularly, from 3,446 in 2019 to six,389 in 2023.
In July 2023, the Lagos Environment Police Command mentioned it recorded 111 sexual attack circumstances between April and June 2023.
Hundeyin additionally famous that the command used to be involved concerning the expanding choice of sexual attack circumstances within the environment, including that inside of the similar length, 14 rape circumstances and 56 circumstances of home violence have been recorded, time 99 suspects have been charged in court docket.
“About 83 cases were currently under investigation, which shows the command’s commitment to prosecuting any domestic and gender-based violence in Lagos State,” Hundeyin mentioned.
In a similar way, the Girls at Possibility World Bedrock, in collaboration with the US Consulate Common, Lagos, perceivable that 33 in step with cent of girls and women elderly between 15 and 49 have skilled bodily and or sexual abuse of their lifetime.
‘Justice delayed by corruption’
Alternatively, a attorney and social commentator, Liborous Oshoma, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, highlighted the destructive affect of corruption, stigmatisation, non secular ideals and insufficiency of coaching within the legal justice machine of the rustic.
He mentioned, “The primary illness is the inherent corruption within the Nigerian legal justice machine and you’ll in finding out that the sufferers of sexual defilement or attack, who don’t have the monetary capability don’t normally get justice for themselves.
“Because of corruption within the machine, you’ll have police compromising circumstances and once they remove ‘compensation money’ from suspects, it makes it tough for sufferers to get justice for the reason that tendency for investigations to safeguard up the crimes could be very prime.
“The a success circumstances are those the place civil public teams, non-governmental organisations, girls’s rights teams and the media wade in.
One more reason is stigmatisation. There are particular techniques rape sufferers are interrogated by means of the police, which makes them really feel re-violated and within the corrupt public we are living in, there’s a means girls’s our bodies are objectified.
“Many times, the suspects know that their reputation is at stake so they either negotiate with the victim or utilise political means. Then, religion also plays a role. When a sexual assault case happens in a religious setting, you will hear people saying ‘Don’t bring down a man of God,’ or they resort to this idea that you should leave it for God to judge.”
Oshoma added that there used to be a necessity for policemen to be educated and re-trained to safeguard that perpetrators of sexual attack aren’t allowed to travel freely.
“I like what the government has done in setting up a department cut out for these cases, but that department can only report to the police and the bureaucracy involved in having to go to the Ministry of Justice adds to the cogs that delay justice, and this weighs down the mind of the survivors,” he mentioned.
‘Victims need support’
Talking with The PUNCH, the co-founder and Director of Motion Fitness Integrated, Dr Uwemedimo Esiet, mentioned rape sufferers want psychosocial aid to heal and get their hour again.
He added that crowd establishments within the nation must be audited to grasp their degree of compliance and figuring out of what constitutes sexual abuse and practices.
Esiet mentioned, “The very first thing is {that a} sufferer must be tested thru scientific and psychosocial control. Psychosocial control is a life-time engagement. Population had been raped and later ended up committing suicide. It’s because they felt nugatory because of the tense revel in.
“Some have needed to exchange faculties, and forbidden faculty, time some have evolved psychological sicknesses on a long-term foundation. So you’ll be able to’t have a one-size-fits-all technique. We must offer with every case because the condition calls for.
“It can take some people two to three years to heal, while for some, it could be for a lifetime. This is why we have always emphasised that beyond medical treatment, there should be psychosocial support.”
LASG reacts
Talking at the primary elements that give a contribution to delays within the legal justice procedure in sexual attack circumstances, Vivour-Adeniyi mentioned they’re led to by means of societal and institutional obstacles.
She mentioned, “At the societal degree, survivors and their households ceaselessly face intense force from revered figures of their communities to draw out their circumstances. In lots of portions of public, sexual attack is seen as a ‘private affair’ that are supposed to be resolved throughout the people in lieu than in the course of the criminal machine.
“This societal force to draw out circumstances is compounded by means of a deeply incorrect belief of sexual attack survivors, ceaselessly chief to the sufferer being blamed for the culprit’s movements, forgetting {that a} crime has been dedicated in opposition to the environment.
“There are also instances where survivors or their parents are even threatened by community leaders to drop the case, and failure to comply could result in the community becoming hostile toward the family. Fortunately, the narrative is changing in Lagos State, through various programmes DSVA actively engages with communities. The agency is raising awareness about Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and educating them on their responsibilities as mandated reporters.”
She additional indexed institutional demanding situations that come with insufficient investigation by means of regulation enforcement companies as elements, including that efficient investigation used to be a very powerful as a result of legal circumstances weren’t received in court docket however on the investigation level.
Vivour-Adeniyi added, “Recognising this, the environment has over time, bolstered its partnership with the Lagos Environment Police Command, making sure that educated team of workers are stationed in designated police stations, referred to as Folk Assistance Devices.
“Alternatively, there are nonetheless cases the place the Directorate of People Prosecutions problems a ‘Non-Prosecution’ criminal recommendation because of inadequate proof, inconsistencies, or ambiguities, which is dominated in preference of the suspect.
“This reflects the legal principle that states that ‘it’s better that 10 guilty persons escape than for one innocent person to be wrongfully punished’. Further compounding these issues are the inadequate resources, logistics, and underfunding of critical stakeholders.”