TRUE STORY: My dad raped me 4 times - Class 5 pupil

A 14-year old Primary 5
pupil who lived alone with her father at Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria
Island, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, has told the police at the Bar Beach
Division, Victoria Island Lagos, that her father, Ikoro Nwafor John, 57, raped her
four times between March and May 2013 after giving her N200 to go to school
every day.

John
was arrested by the police at the Bar Beach Division and arraigned before an
Igbosere Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, on a one count charge of allegedly
forcefully having unlawful and indecent carnal knowledge of a minor without her
consent.

The
accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, but the police prosecutor, Supol
E.C. Ekuma opposed his oral bail on the ground that the offence the accused
committed is not an ordinary one.

The
presiding magistrate ordered the accused remanded in prison custody till 5
June, 2013 when his written bail application may be considered.

Narrating
her ordeal in the hand of her father to the police in her statement, the little
girl allegedly said: “after asking my mother that she should reunite me with my
father, she brought me to my father in Lagos, from her sister’s place in the
eastern part of Nigeria where she dropped me after she separated from my father
few years ago.

“I was
happy to be reunited with my father. My father enrolled me in a primary school
in Victoria Island, Lagos, and he was giving me N200 every day to go to school
and each time I came back he would advise me not to allow men to deceive me and
ruin my feature.

“But I
was surprised my father later started telling me that since my mother has
divorced him, I would replace her as his wife and bear him a child. I thought
he was joking until one night he came into my room to give me N200 to go to school the
following day and suddenly, he pounced on me, removed my pant and forcefully
inserted his organ inside my private part. As I was screaming he started begging me not to shout because neigbhours would hear.

“He
did the same thing three more times to me, with a promise to buy me a
car and take me to London for site seeing, but all
to no avail.”

She
added that “when I told my mother when she came to check me how my father was
abusing me sexually, she said that was not her business.

“When
my father gave me another N200 and raped me, I told him he was a stupid father
and he started beating me.

“I
reported the matter to my head teacher who informed the police and he was
arrested. I am begging the government to punish my father for defiling me.”

In his
defence, John allegedly denied the allegation, saying his daughter lied against
him to enable her continue to follow her boyfriend.