“When I sighted the girl near my compound, my body changed and the devil ministered unto me that the girl would be sweet like her elder sister whom I had earlier dated and I quickly called her inside my room.” These were the words of a 39-year old man, Nurudeen Owolabi from Ilorin Kwara State while confessing to defiling a 12 year old primary pupil in his house at No 5, Alhaji Yinusa Street Bariga, Lagos.
Like other rapists, Owolabi who is cooling off at a cell of Special Anti Robbery Squad, (SARS), Ikeja blamed the devil for misdirecting him. According to him, since her elder sister relocated out of Lagos, his eyes had been on her younger sister because her elder sister was a bundle of joy on bed.
He recounted to our reporter that he once summoned the courage to tell the 12-year old girl his intention to date her at a ripe age to replace her elder sister and that the girl agreed to the proposal.
The Ilorin-born suspect argued that it was in line with the sealed agreement between them that made him to buy cabin biscuits for the girl so as to water their plans and help himself.
He said before the incident, the relationship between him and the girl was cordial and smooth but that the parents of the girl who lived the next yard were not privy to it.
“Honestly, I was waiting for her to add another year to start full-blown relationship with her. But on April 14, when I saw her wearing one tempting dress, I lost control and all my body stood up and I lured her into my room with biscuit and asked her to make love with me and she consented.
“I hurriedly pulled her clothe and had carnal knowledge of her. You know what? She did not cry. Instead, I noticed she enjoyed it which even made me to wonder whether I am the first person.
“After the encounter, she left but did not clean her body well. I suspect that was how her mother discovered and queried her,” he narrated.
He confirmed to us that the girl was sent on undisclosed errand in his own yard when he accosted her
Pleading for mercy, Owolabi said the incident had taught him a lesson of his life as his fiancee whom she planned to marry may no longer accept him.
He said ”I have now known the voice of the devil and it will never again deceive me. ”
Speaking on the issue, Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Fatai Owoseni decried the rate at which young girls are frequently abused.
The police boss said the victim (names withheld) has been traumatised as a result of the act and is currently being medically attended to at Mirabel Medical Centre
In a related development, a 36-year old man, Imeh Akpan who was arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly having carnal knowledge of his 15-year-old step-sister has blamed his action on influence of alcohol.
The suspect who resides at Obalende area of the state claimed to have been drunk when he committed the act.
Our reporter gathered that the suspect had been sleeping with the little girl, when she was five, until she is now 15.
Akpan who later blamed the act on the devil stressed that he took the alcohol at a friend’s child naming ceremony. He said the alcohol worried him because he took different kinds of drinks which later influenced his action
Hear him: “when I returned from the party that fateful day, I did not know when I removed my clothes and raped her. There was nobody at home that night. Sincerely speaking, I was under the influence of alcohol, otherwise , how could I sleep with a little girl like that. I am married. I brought her up. Why would I rape somebody who has been living with me when she was just five. All that happened to me is the work of the devil.”
The victim whose name was withheld told our correspondent that his uncle was lying. She said she had slept with her twice.
According to her: “The first time he slept with me, I was about 14 years old then, while the second scenario was last week when my aunty , his wife was not around. After the first incident, I reported it to my aunty when she came back from her travelling. But when my aunty confronted her husband on why he slept with me, he denied it and even threatened to send me packing from the house. It was my aunty who begged him to spare me and the matter was resolved.
The victim, however, said that to her surprise, her aunty’s husband never stopped the act, stressing that whenever her aunty was not at home, her husband always wanted to sleep with her. For the instant case, I carelessly left the door open. When he returned from the party, he tore my pants and pounced on me. I struggled with him but he over powered me”.
The victim said that after the incident that night, she ran out of the house to a neighbour’s apartment to beg for phone to call her mother, but the neighbour said she was out of call card.
She said: “I ran to the junction of our street where I met a man who after explaining everything to him offered to help me and he took me to a hotel so as to pass the night. But when I tried to sleep, I saw the suspect in my dream so I could not close my eyes. When it was 3am, the man that wanted to help came to me and promised to help me, but almost raped me again.”
She added that it was her scream that alerted the management of the hotel who came and rescued her from the grip of the man who wanted to rape her again after promising to assist her. “Immediately I left the hotel that night, while walking on the street that early dark morning, I saw policemen who were on patrol who came to my rescue and my aunty husband was later arrested after I narrated the whole story to them.”
