A 16-year-old girl (name withheld) who was allegedly gang-raped by three private guards, one of whom was attached to a church in Amumara, in Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, is yet to overcome the psychological and emotional trauma, seven months after, as the traumatic experience has left her feeling vulnerable, scared, and anxious, with a deep sense of violation and betrayal.

As she struggles to come to terms with the fact that a place of worship supposed to be a sanctuary and a symbol of morality, where she had sought refuge, was used as a backdrop for the scene of her horrific ordeal, her fate also hangs in the balance as the attempt to bring her perpetrators to justice has met a brick wall.

Her distraught mother, Ms. Chinwe Jonah, recalled how she had asked her daughter and another girl (her daughter’s friend), both of whom attended the Apostolic Church’s convention on December 9, 2023, which lasted beyond midnight, into the early hours of the next day, to remain in the church until dawn.

She said, “I told them to stay back inside the church until dawn, for safety. According to my daughter, one of the church security guards whom she identified simply as Ibu from Obibi village, came and asked her to leave the church and go home.

But she insisted that I instructed her and her friend to stay back in the church until dawn because it would be unsafe for them to go home at that very odd hour. She said ‘Ibu’ told her that the youth chairman of Obibi (the village where the church is located) was coming with the police to arrest her.

When she demanded what her offense was, he did not say. Rather, she said he ordered her at gunpoint to follow him to a safe place. He took her to an unoccupied building nearby where he and two others gang-raped her. She returned home that morning looking weak, in pain, crying, and bleeding, and narrated her horrific ordeal in the hands of the three beasts.

Foiled attempts

She said she immediately dashed out to Obibi village to confront ‘Ibu’, whom she knows, and to report the incident to the village council.

According to her , “ I met a gathering of the village members in a meeting, and Ibu was there. I narrated the story of my daughter’s agonizing experience, and the amazed villagers questioned ‘Ibu’ why he committed such a grave abomination. Ibu asked for forgiveness and blamed it on the devil.

“I also went to report the incident to a joint security patrol team stationed around the church. I called the Youth president of the community, who persuaded me to allow him and other youths to settle the matter.

He called later and informed me to meet him and others at a local bar. On arrival, I met the employer of the three men that raped my daughter and the men themselves, in the bar. The youth leader and their employer told the three rapists to kneel down and apologize to me, and they did. Thereafter, they told me to withdraw the case from the police station where it was reported by my brother, whom I had earlier contacted. I told them I wanted a proper police investigation of the incident, considering the severity of the physical and psychological injury inflicted on my daughter.”

She further said that she was given N50,000 to treat her daughter and directed to withdraw the case from the police, for her life and her daughter’s sake. She said the threat instilled fear in her, and considering that she had nobody to back her, she grudgingly accepted to withdraw the case from the police.

RULAAC’s intervention

As the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, the girl’s trauma, according to her mother, deepened, resulting in her being withdrawn and isolated.

However, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, a Civil Society Organization, has thrown its weight behind the mother and daughter to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book. As a first step, RULAAC, according to its Executive Director, Mr. Okechukwu Nwagunma, had contacted the DPO of Ezinihitte Police Division, who confirmed that the case of defilement by three men was reported but the suspects were yet to be arrested.

Dissatisfied with the manner in which the Division was handling the matter, Nwagunma said RULAAC reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police, Imo State, who summoned the DPO and subsequently transferred him out of the Division.

Besides, he added that the Chief Security Officer, CSO of the community, Ikechukwu Inyama, who was assisting the victim and her mother in pursuing the case, had also come under verbal and physical attack, both by a senior police officer at the Ezinihitte division, who accused him of giving information to RULAAC, which led to the CP being alerted and some persons in the community accused of shielding the suspects.

Expressing concern over the matter, RULAAC, in a letter to the Inspector-General of Police, called on the Police High Command to investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to book.

RULAAC, in one of its letters sighted by Saturday Vanguard, said, “We believe that this may not be the first time the culprits would have committed similar heinous acts of sexual violence against women and girls who may not want to speak out because of shame and other cultural inhibitions. Letting them get away with this crime would be to embolden them to remain threats to society. Those who throw money around to shield culprits of such heinous crimes are not only compounding felonies but are also enabling crimes.

Any member of the victim’s family who succumbs to pressure to ‘settle’ a case of rape and defilement would be culpable for compounding felony.

“Failure by the police to effectively investigate this case with a view to prosecuting the culprits and their enablers will amount to failing an innocent brutalized girl and her poor family and community. There is no report or indication of police demanding or receiving money in this case to carry out an investigation.

But the inability of the girl’s family to provide money to support police investigation should not be a barrier to her getting the justice she deserves. We call on the Nigeria Police to expedite action to ensure effective investigation, arrest, and prosecution of the suspects and others involved in shielding the suspects and compounding felony in this case.”

As of Thursday, July 18, 2024, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, directed the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 9, Umuahia, to investigate the matter. Consequently, Saturday Vanguard was informed that the AIG had directed the Crack Team to take over the investigation, with a mandate to arrest the culprits as well as investigate the alleged involvement of others in the crime. With this move, Nigerians and indigenes of Amumara, in Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, look forward with great expectation to the outcome of the investigation, as they consider the plight of the 16-year-old girl as a testament to the urgent need for change and a call to action for a justice system that prioritizes the safety and dignity of all. (Saturday Vanguard)

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