. . . Mother alleges cover-up

A police officer attached to the Ogudu Police Station, Ojota, Lagos, (name withheld), has been accused of raping a 17-year-old girl (name withheld).

City Round gathered that the officer had promised to help the teenager retrieve her phone, which had been taken by ‘one chance’ robbers on June 16 while she, her grandmother, and her siblings were returning from Ikeja.

The suspect reportedly overheard the teenager recounting her ordeal to her mother at her shop and offered to help track her missing phone and take her statement.

“On June 29, officer Owolabi called my mum on her phone and told her he had arrested the person with my phone and my mum should send me to his police station and I went there. On getting there, I was told they made a mistake with the tracking, and that the person caught wasn’t the one with my phone.

“The officer sent his personal assistant to call me into his office and he showed me directions there. When I entered his office and greeted him, he replied and got up to lock the door and put the key in his pocket. I shouted, ‘Sir, why did you lock the door?’

“He started trying to pull my clothes off and I shouted, then he brought out a gun, cocked it, and threatened to shoot me if I shouted. Then he began harassing me and when I struggled with him he hit me on the back of my head with the gun and raped me.

“I saw his phone ringing and the caller was my mum, but he told me since I didn’t have a phone with me, I should tell her I didn’t get to his office and from now on I should be reporting at his office by 12 pm every day during school break or while returning from school that he had been watching me for two years and now I just fell into his trap,” the distraught victim told our correspondent.

Also speaking with City Round, the mother of the victim, Mrs Aramide Olupona, said her daughter began bleeding a day following the assault and was taken to the Mirabel Centre, adding that the incident was also reported to the authorities.

Mrs Olupona, however, accused the police of trying to bury the case, saying, “The suspect’s wife and the rest of his family have come to my shop to plead with me saying he would soon retire, but what about my daughter that was raped? Is it because I am a poor woman?

“The Area Commander of the station too invited me and pleaded with me to bury the case, now they are saying the suspect has fled and his whereabouts are unknown, but my daughter is distraught and has said she wants to commit suicide. My girl needs justice.”

A copy of a referral letter dated July 1, 2024, and addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, by the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency was sent to our correspondent.

It partly read, “Our office refers 17-year-old (name withheld), to you for your kind assistance. A mandated reporter alleged that the girl was defiled by a police officer, who works with Ogudu Police Station, Ojota on Saturday, June 29, 2024.

“The allegations levied against the officer constitute the offenses of defilement, sexual assault, and indecent practices punishable under the Child’s Rights Law of Lagos State (2015) and the Criminal Law of Lagos State (2015). We would appreciate it if this case is handled with the utmost urgency.”

In his reaction, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, in a text message sent to our correspondent on Friday, said, “The CP immediately directed the Gender Unit to commence an investigation and that is underway. There is no plan to cover up the allegation.” (Text, excluding headline: Saturday PUNCH)

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