Sad one!! 23-year-old Judith (real name withheld) was
recuperating with heavy dosage of antibiotics. She was not ill, and neither was she down with any flu. She had simply survived one of the worst s*xual attacks in Lagos in recent times.
The incident that would send Judith to the emergency ward, took
place around 10pm on Sunday, 28 August at 106, Lagos-Abeokuta
Expressway, around Pako Bus Stop.
Judith’s aunty, a trader in the area, said the young woman had
come to her stall around 9pm that day to collect some money.
“I told her to wait so we could pack up together later in the
evening. She did. But around 9.30pm when I was still not ready,
she said she would go home. She had been sick, so, I thought it
was better. Some minutes after 10pm, I packed up and left,” the
woman said.
But to her surprise when she got home, she was told Judith had
not been seen since she left for the shop. The family quickly
mounted a search for her in the neighbourhood. Her two brothers
went in search of her on streets in the area and they did find her.
One of her brothers told Punch that when he found Judith, he could
not believe his eyes.
“Her slippers were all torn, the dress she was wearing was heavy
with blood. She was unsteady on her feet. She could hardly stand
up,” he said.
A picture of Judith taken soon after she was found showed the
ivory-coloured skirt she was wearing blotted with large patches of
blood behind and in front.
His brother told Punch that when he became frantic and started
asking what happened to her, she could hardly talk.
“She said some men r*ped her. Two men now came out of the
front of the house where I found her. One asked me what I was
shouting about. He said, ‘Because she was r*ped, is that why you
will not let people ‘hear word’? Is she the first person that will be
r*ped here?’ After all, I gave her Igbo (hemp) and she took it.’
“I was shocked. I could not believe that he had the confidence to
tell me he was even the one who gave her Indian hemp. My sister
said they forced her to take the Indian hemp and two of them r*ped
her on a chair in front of a shop.”
Judith told her family that the men grabbed her as she crossed the
expressway on her way home.
She said when they covered her mouth and dragged her to house
number 106, which faces the expressway, they took her in and
forced her to take Indian hemp three times before they r*ped her.
The two men who allegedly r*ped her were later identified as
Wasiu and Monaco, the names they are popularly known by on the
street, while the man who boasted of being the one who gave her
the Indian hemp was identified as Olanrewaju Osinubi.
Wasiu and Monaco are currently on the run.
Judith’s brother explained that while he argued with the two men,
who initially came out, other men came out of the house and
joined them, threatening that if he did not leave with his sister, he
would be beaten up.
He said, “While we were arguing there, I luckily saw a patrol van of
policemen from the Dopemu Police Division passing by and I
quickly approached them and explained how my sister was r*ped.
“The policemen came down from their vehicle and because the
crowd of boys in front of the house were threatening, one of the
policemen cocked his gun and they all fled.
“But, I immediately grabbed the one who said he gave her Indian
hemp to smoke (Osinubi) before he could escape. The police took
him and we all went to the station.”
While at the station, it was learnt that Judith continued to bleed
heavily as everywhere she sat was soaked with blood.
The police asked the family to take her to the Mirabel S*xual
Assault Referral Centre for treatment that night. But by the time
they got there around 12.30am, the centre was close.
But officials at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital,
where the centre is located, referred them to the Ifako General
Hospital, where s*xual assault cases are also treated.
After the initial treatment there, Judith was again referred to the
Mirabel Centre the following day where she was eventually given
comprehensive treatment.
It is unclear whether the centre has sent the report of tests
conducted on Judith back to the police as is usually the practice.
However, Judith’s family alleged that they became like bystanders
as soon as her case got to the police station.
Her brother told Punch that, “Before we knew what was happening,
a man had come and said he was the lawyer of the one that was
arrested (Osinubi). I was shocked when the suspect and his lawyer
demanded that the case be transferred to the Isokoko Police
Division, Agege, instead. We who were the complainant had no say
in the matter.”
The case was eventually transferred to Isokoko where two
policewomen were detached to follow Judith’s family home.
Again, the family said they were shocked when they got home and
the policewomen told Judith to take them to where the incident
occurred.
“She was sleeping when they came. She was still in a terrible state.
The police brought the suspect to our home and told us to wake
her up so that she could take them to where it happened. It was so
ridiculous that they could make her go through that at that point. I
was angry but we eventually agreed,” the victim’s brother said.
Judith’s aunty, who followed them to the scene of the attack, said
they asked Judith to point to where it happened and she did.
“She showed them the place and even the chair on which she was
r*ped. It was very wet as they had just washed off all the blood,”
the woman said.
However, the family said they were surprised when police charged
Osinubi to court on Friday, September 2, 2016 for simply
obstructing police work.
According to them, the police have not shown any sympathy for
Judith in handling the case and they fear she might never get any
justice.
It is not clear what the police are doing currently to track down the
two suspects on the run as the Lagos State Police Command
spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, did not pick calls to her line.
However, an activist, Mrs. Esther Ogwu of the Esther Child Rights
Foundation, whom the family has approached for help on the
matter, said has notified the Sexual Assault department of the
Lagos State Ministry of Justice about the case.
“We expect that an urgent step would now be taken on this matter.
This is not a case that the police should even think of sweeping
under the carpet.
“This case is not just about her, it is about other young women
and girls who are in danger as long as those men are still on the
loose. But I do not think the police have realised how terrible it must be for the victim that she may not get justice,” she said.
Related Posts:
There has been no response to "Sad!! See How This Lady Was Rap3d After Hoodlums Forced Her To Take “Igbo” In Lagos (See Photos) "
Post a Comment