…begs the government to help her
Juliana Francis
A 15-year-old girl has narrated in chilling detail how her biological started having sexual intercourse with her when she was 14 years old after accusing her of being responsible for his fall from Riches to Grass.
The child, desperate for rescue has reached out to child rights advocates.
One of the organisations she got across to is the Advocate for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network. (ACVPN), and following up on the case is a staff of ACVPN, Ms. Harmony Tachie.
The child narrated: “My dad is Mohammed. I live with my dad. The day he started sleeping with me was after the Ramadan fast celebration.
“He said I had caused him a lot of misfortune, that he used to be very rich, but now he has nothing. He said that he went somewhere and was given a spiritual message that the only way to break out of poverty and return to his wealthy former state was to have sex with me, his daughter.
“He said that I should not worry, that he would take care of me very well. He warned me not to tell anyone. He said that if I told anyone, I would go mad or die.
“He started sleeping with me when I was 14 date that I am now 15 years old. He slept with me last Sunday.
“I told him that whenever I wanted to urinate, I used to feel pains from my private part. He said that it was okay and that he would see to it when he returned.
“He didn’t buy drugs for me and didn’t do anything about my complaints. I went back to him, to remind him about my complaints in my private part.
“He said that he didn’t have money, so I let him be. He enrolled my siblings in school but refused to allow go to school. Whenever I force myself to go, he will come and chase me from school, back home. That was what happened.
“I want people to help me and also help my parents. I felt my parents were not okay. I also need help from the government. Please I am begging.”
Harmony Tachie said: “This case was initially reported at the Shagamu Police Station by the mandated reporter but the Shagamu Police Station Gender Unit was lackadaisical towards the mandated reporter and the victim, rather they referred the mandated reporter and the victim to Owutu Police Station in Ikorodu Family Support Unit FSU.
“According to the mandated reporter who bitterly complained that the 2iC to the OC family support Unit told them to get a letter from the Lagos State Domestic Violence Agency DSVA before they could attend to the case when she was told they had no letter, the 2iC claimed the OC is not on sit until Tuesday today 16th October 2024 this week.
“It took the DPO intervention who called the 2Ci to order to inform the OC FSU.
“It’s really surprising an instituted Federal Government Establishment is taking orders from a state Agency, does it mean every victim who suffered various forms of violence should get a referral letter from DSVA before they can act?
“The Nigeria Police Force should call its officers from subjecting victims of various degrees of violence to further abuse to obtain a letter of referral from DSVA in Lagos State because this is another trauma in its entirety.
“Currently, they are at Owutu police station Ikorodu we expect a swift response from the FSU for the benefit of the doubt the victim’s conversation and father negotiating before he took advantage of her again this past Sunday.
“The victim’s mother is always not at home because her father (victim’s grandfather) is sick, so the mother has been going over to take care of him. Sometimes she doesn’t come home.
“The victim is the oldest among her parents’ children, she has a recorded conversation where her father was begging her for sex.
“In the recording, the girl asked him what if people found out he was sleeping with her, what would happen, what would he do?
“He replied that it had happened at the Agric area of Ikorodu, that a father was discovered to have been sleeping with his daughter. He told the victim that the girl in the agricultural case was asked what she wanted, she requested that her father send her overseas and that was what the father.
“That was the kind of logic this perpetrator used on his daughter. Is he now saying he would send the victim overseas if he was found out? This is a man that drinks garri just to feed.
“When the mother of the girl found out that her husband was sleeping with the daughter through the neighbours, she begged them to drop the matter. But we at ACVPN said never. Justice must be done. We have concluded plans with the Nigeria Police Force to arrest the perpetrator.”
