newsnow : 11 years old girl raped by two hooligans; cries for justice

Everyone has failed me, Mrs. Buhari please help me get justice –Eleven-year-old raped, maimed by two beasts

An eleven-year-old girl, Blessing (not real

name) gang-raped by two boys in Abia

State who also broke one of her legs, is

appealing to the President’s wife and non-

governmental organisations to take up her

case, writes GBENGA ADENIJI

Eleven-year-old Blessing (not real name) is

no longer the girl she used to be. Once

cheerful and the joy of her mother, she is

now a shadow of herself. Managing to say

hello to visitors in the hospital, she burst

into tears as she tried to recount how she

was gang-raped and beaten up by two

young men in her village. As she narrated

the nightmare, Blessing kept making a plea:

“Bring the boys who raped me to justice.”

Blessing, who managed to talk with our

correspondent on Monday as she lay on a

bed at the Police Clinic at Bende Road,

Umuahia in Abia State, said she would be

happy if the wife of the President, Mrs.

Aisha Buhari, could help her to get justice.

“We are poor and have nobody to help us.

The police haven’t helped us. So, I think

Mrs. Buhari is the one who can help me to

get justice. After they raped me, they were

still moving around freely and no one could

do anything to them,” Blessing said.

“I also want NGOs to come to my aid. They

should help me to get justice by arresting

those who raped me. They are walking

freely. They are even threatening my family

members especially my mother. The police

have not also been able to offer help even

when my mother ran to them for help,’’ she

said, staring at some of the people

standing close to her bed stand.

Some of the visitors shed tears while others

looked her with pity.

Her mother, Mrs. Ejike, with teary eyes, sat

on the edge of the bed, affectionately

caressing one of her daughter’s legs.

Blessing let out intermittent screams as she

tried to adjust one of her legs to sit upright.

‘‘She cannot walk with one of her legs

again. Two animals in human skin raped

my daughter and did not stop at that, they

also damaged her right leg with an iron,’’

her mother said, sobbing.

How it happened

Blessing covered her face with her two

hands and launched into a narration of

what happened to her.

She said in a soft, low voice, ‘‘I was at

home when one of my friends came to call

me last Sunday (June 26). She brought a

salad and said we should eat together. I

obliged. It was around 8pm and while we

were eating the salad not far from my

house, a boy came and asked what we

were doing at the point we stood. We

initially didn’t answer but when we noticed

that he was getting angry we showed him

what we were eating.’’

Blessing stated that he thereafter told them

that they should follow him to see the high

chief of the community to explain what they

were doing outside their homes by 8pm.

‘‘We showed him the remaining salad but

instead, he started dragging us away. When

we got to a road that leads to where the

high chief lives, he dragged us through

another road. We then asked him why we

had to take that road and he told us that

the high chief was waiting for us in a house

on that road, ’’ said Blessing who was

trying hard to conceal the pain she was

feeling in the leg.

She added that when they arrived at a

house, the boy later identified as Ikechukwu

Mbakwe, knocked at the door which was

opened by two men. One of them left

immediately while another boy, Ifeanyi

Mbakwe, also known as ‘Fire’, stayed with

them in the room.

The little girl said they instantly asked

where the high chief was and they were

told to remain calm as they would

announce their arrival to him.

She cried, adding, ‘‘Ikechukwu went out and

returned with two bottles of stout offering

the content to us to drink. That was when I

stood up to ask where the high chief who

he said summoned us was. He became

violent and said we should drink the stout.

We were forced to drink it. That was all I

could recall until I woke up the next day

and saw that I was naked. Both of them

had raped me all through the night.’’

The girl who is a primary six pupil in one of

the schools in Umuosu Okaiga Nkwoegwu

in Umuahia North Local Government Area of

Abia State, where she hails from, further

said Ifeanyi walked into the room as she

was covering her nakedness.

‘‘He wanted to sleep with me again and I

refused. I shouted at him and told him that

he raped me with his friend. But he pushed

me away to have his way. That was when I

held him and he took a metal and hit me

with it. He said he would kill me if I didn’t

allow him have sex with me. As I tried to

stand up, he hit my right leg with the iron.

He continued hitting it till I could no longer

walk.

“He later pushed me out and ran away. I

was crying when some members of a

vigilance group came to my rescue. They

heard my story and took me to the village

square that early morning. I want justice. I

want those who molested me to be

arrested and killed. They also wanted to kill

me,’’ said the chubby girl in a pale, frail

voice.

A mother’s pain

Blessing’s mother could no longer contain

her urge to speak as her daughter rounded

off her conversation with our

correspondent.

Mrs. Ejike noted that on June 26, she

visited one of her husband’s relations but

she was unable to get a tricycle on time to

take her home.

She said, ‘‘When I eventually got home, I

discovered that my second daughter was

not at home. I have four children; my first

child is a female while the third and last

children are males. Blessing who is the

second child will be 12 years on July 23. I

searched everywhere for her but later

thought she visited my sister as she always

did only for her to return from the place

and inform me she went there.

“I tried my sister’s mobile number that day

but it did not connect. I could not go to her

place that night because it was not nearby.

As it was getting late, I returned home

when I didn’t see her and decided that I

would visit my sister the following day

which was a Monday. I was very worried

but I was sure she was with my sister.’’

Mrs. Ejike explained that the following day

around 6am as she set out to go to her

sister’s place, someone knocked at her

door, shouting that she should come out.

‘‘Since I was already dressed to go out, I

did not waste time before I opened the door

and the person turned out to be a distant

friend in the area. She told me to follow her

to the village square which was not far

from my house. When I got there, I saw my

missing daughter on the floor writhing in

pain. She could not walk.

“Members of the vigilance group who

assisted her to get to that spot said they

saw her in front of a house crying and

decided to bring her to our area when she

told them she lived there. They said a boy

who ran away before they got there raped

her and broke one of her legs with an iron

when she refused to allow him have more

sex with her after they had gang-raped her

a night before,’’ Mrs. Ejike said throwing

her hands up in the air.

Trying to fight back tears, she stated that

she was heartbroken seeing the pitiable

state of her daughter, writhing with pain on

the floor.

She noted, ‘‘I tried carrying her but I could

not. It was a man in the village who used

his vehicle to take her to our home. The

people who were at the scene at that time

of the day were many.’’

Mrs. Ejike explained that the two men that

raped her daughter have since fled the

village.

‘‘I did not know them. It was when this

incident happened that I learnt they are

from the same village with me. The other

girl was not injured and her parents said

she was not molested. I reported the

matter to the police at Afugiri Police

Station.”

According to the distraught mother, the

police were of no help to her. “When I did

not get a positive response from the police,

I went to meet a lawyer who I know has

been taking up cases for the poor. The

most annoying thing is that one of the

fathers of the suspects came to threaten

me to desist from the case or be dealt

with. Is it because I have no money? I will

fight for my daughter’s rights with the last

blood in my veins, ’’ she added.

On Wednesday, Mrs. Ejike, who said her

husband travelled to Lagos before the

incident, moved Blessing out of the hospital

because she could no longer afford to pay

the bills.

‘‘There is no money to continue with the

treatment in the hospital. I have to take her

away. She sobs everyday but I told her not

to cry anymore because I know that God

will wipe her tears. I try to cater for my

children with the little I have. I cannot

believe what happened to her. It is still like

a dream and the perpetrators are walking

freely, ’’ Mrs. Ejike said to our

correspondent on Thursday.

Seeking justice

Speaking to SUNDAY PUNCH , the lawyer

who Blessing’s mother contacted, Mr.

Jasper Ejimofor, said he was particularly

pained that the suspects hijacked the victim

from her house and gang-raped her.

Ejimofor said when the matter was brought

to his attention, he immediately wrote a

petition to the Assistant Inspector-General

of Police in charge of Zone 9, Umuahia,

Abia State and the state’s commissioner of

police.

Noting that there was no response from

either of the two, the lawyer added that he

was reliably informed by the police that one

of the suspects‑Ikechukwu, was planning to

leave the country through Lagos.

He stated, ‘‘But we have been assured that

he would be arrested together with his

accomplice. It pained me that the suspects

prearranged such a heinous crime.’’

He also said the two suspects were not

from the same parents but from the same

clan.

A copy of the petition obtained by SUNDAY

PUNCH read in part, ‘‘On June 26 during

the hours of 8pm, two boys named

Ikechukwu Mbakwe and Ifeanyi Mbakwe

who are also natives of Umuoso Okaiga

Nkwoegwu in Umuahia North Local

Government Area of Abia State intercepted

a girl of 11 years who was in front of her

house with other children.

‘‘The boys, using the threat of death on the

girl, forcefully took her to a building

belonging to one of the uncles of Ikechukwu

Mbakwe who lives in the city and thereafter

raped her. The boys heartlessly used an

iron to break the girl’s leg to prevent her

from running away. The mother reported

the matter at Afugiri Police Station where

she further mobilised the officers to arrest

the boys.

‘‘It is therefore our plea that you use your

good offices to investigate the heinous

crime against the young, innocent girl to

ensure that the boys are brought to

justice.’’

Commenting on the matter, a child

protection consultant and Executive

Director, Media Concern Initiative, Dr.

Princess Olufemi-Kayode, who condemned

the act, lamented the poor response of the

country to emergency situations despite its

abundant human and natural resources.

She also noted that by now, the rapists

should have been apprehended and made

to face the law.

The criminal justice psychologist further

said efforts should made by the government

to protect the citizens against any form of

abuse regardless of gender or status.

Olufemi-Kayode said, “Most times, it is

always the vulnerable who suffer most in

our society. I hope the daughter and

mother get help. They will be in distress at

the moment. I also hope the governor of

the state will rise up to help them. It is a

sad story, very sad.’’

When contacted, the spokesperson for the

Abia State Police Command, Mr. Nta

Ogbonnaya Nta, confirmed the incident.

He added that the police had intensified a

search for the suspects who he said were

on the run.

Nta said, ‘‘The matter was reported at the

police station three days after the incident.

The suspects have fled but we have

launched a manhunt for them. Abia police

do not condone such indecent assault. We

also advise parents and residents to always

report cases to us promptly so we can

move into action swiftly.’’

But Mrs. Ejike disagreed with Nta that she

reported the matter late, adding that she

did that on the Monday her daughter was

found.

“All I want is for Mrs. Buhari and NGOs to

come to our aid. The police have not

helped us and the relatives of my

daughter’s rapists are threatening us. Is

this life?” she said