Family seeks justice for seven-year-old rape victim

The family of a seven-year-old girl (name withheld) has demanded justice over the alleged sexual abuse of the girl by one of their neighbours in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

The aunt of the victim, Adeola Adesanya, disclosed this in an interview with the press  on Thursday.

Adesanya said the family was more pained by the action of the police who he claimed had released the suspect without proper prosecution on the grounds that the correctional centres across the state were filled up and there was no space to accommodate inmates.

She said, “The incident happened on October 21. When I got home, my daughter told me that he caught Baba Abdulahi in an awkward position with my foster daughter and when she took the girl in to ask what she was doing with the man, she revealed to my daughter that the said Baba Abdulahi was touching her private parts. My daughter said when she went out to confront the man, he was nowhere to be found.

“I reported the case to the Igbogbo Police Station and the child was also questioned. That was when we realised that the person molesting her was the younger brother to Baba Abdulahi. I was told to pay the police the sum of N5,000 as transport fare before they could arrest the suspect, which I did. After the arrest, I was told to go and carry out like two different tests in two separate hospitals which I did and the results confirmed that there was a penetration.

“I gave the result to the police who told me the case would be prosecuted in court. But to my surprise, some days to the agreed date that we were to meet in court, I was called by the police that we could no longer go to court and that the suspect had been released because there was a circular that the correctional centres were filled up and could not accommodate inmates.”

She explained further that the complacency of the police had been giving her concern about justice being served in the matter.

“This girl is an orphan put in my care after her mother, who was my sister, died. The only thing I can do for her at this time is to ensure that justice is served but with the way the police are going about the case, I am scared it may result to justice denied,” Adesanya noted.

When contacted for reaction, the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, did not respond to calls and messages made to his line.