It’s
been 10 days since she was violently raped by an okada rider who took
her home from her aunty’s shop, but 14-year-old Esther (not real names)
was still writhing in pain and sobbing when gooo/feature/super-saturday-crime/ill-never-forgive-the-okada-rider-who-raped-me-and-stole-my-virginity-14-year-old-girl/”>Punch correspondent visited
her on Tuesday.
With little signs of attaining puberty, she
looked very young and innocent. Even though she tried as much as she
could to hide her pains, a mix of anger and regret was still written
boldly on her face, and she occasionally appeared lost in some painful
thoughts.
She sat quietly on a wooden stool in her aunty’s shop
and looked round to make sure no one was listening or watching as she
made to share the saddest story of her life with Saturday PUNCH.
Until
penultimate Saturday, Esther, who hails from Benue State and currently
an apprentice in her aunty’s cake shop was a virgin, but she lost her
virginity to a man she had never met before and in a violent way. She
said her aunty
At 14, she already had an experience that might
hurt her for life. Not only has she insisted on not forgiving the okada
rider, identified as Sharafa Wasiu, for violating her, Esther, who has
scars all over her body occasioned by the incident, even wished Wasiu a
quick journey to the great beyond “because of what he did to me. I feel
sad anytime I remember that day.”
She maintained that she had
been doing all she could to remain a virgin until she was married but
all those efforts to safeguard one of her most treasured assets,
virginity, became a waste when Wasiu, after dropping her infront of her
house, trailed her into the house and raped her in broad daylight.
She
said, “That Saturday, I stopped a bike from the front of our shop to
take me home. When we got home, he dropped me in front of the house, I
paid him and I went in, not knowing he was still lurking around. I
thought he had left, not knowing that he wheeled his motorcycle to the
side of the house and stayed there, watching me. It was about 2pm.
“My
aunty had told me to help her clean her shoes, so the moment I entered,
I started packing the shoes outside so I could clean them. I used the
kitchen entrance and I closed it when I packed the first round.
“When
I was in the room packing the remaining shoes, I heard the sound of the
door and I asked who was there. I didn’t hear anything, so I went to
check who or what was there. The next thing I saw was the okada man that
dropped me a short while ago.
“Immediately, he pushed me to the
floor with so much force, overpowered me, being a taller and more hefty
person, he pulled my skirt and pants and raped me. I struggled with him
but I didn’t succeed. Apart from the pain from the forceful entry and
the terrible smell oozing out of his body, he was rubbing my body
against the floor, inflicting serious injuries on my body. I kept
shouting but nobody heard me because I was the only one at home.”
She
explained that when Wasiu released and spilled his Fluid on her body,
coupled with the blood that was coming out from her private part, she
thought her trauma was over, thus, she pushed him away and made for the
door. But unknown to her, Wasiu was busy gathering momentum for the
second round.
She said, “When he finished, I pushed him away,
pulled up my skirt and ran to the door to escape. I barely opened the
door when he suddenly ran after me, pushed me and pinned me to the
floor. I was gasping but he tore all my clothes, leaving me stark
Unclad, and dragged me on the floor, trying to take me inside so he
could rape me again. I can never forgive him for what he did to me.
“By
that time, blood was all over my body. I kept shouting but there was no
one to rescue me. As he was trying to remove his trousers, I managed to
escape (Unclad) and I ran through one side of the house while he ran
through the other side to get me. That was how one of our neighbours saw
me and quickly called on others who mobilised to the place at once and
caught him. They also seized his bike.”
Her aunty,
identified simply as Felicia, who sat close by while she recounted her
ordeal, lamented that if she had known such would befall her ward, she
would not have told her to go home.
She said, “Usually we don’t
work on Saturday but that day, we went for an event. When we finished, I
went somewhere and I sent her to go and give some food items to my
attendants in the shop. I told her to go back home after that. And she
did.
“We moved into that house about three months ago. It’s
located around Onolu Road, Igbe in Ikorodu, while my shop is around
Medical Road. When I heard about the incident, I rushed home and met
them, but the boy, who claimed to be 23 years old, kept denying it. He
was even making calls and threatening to call his guys who would deal
with us. With the help of the security men on our street, we dragged him
to the Igbogbo police station.
“It was at the police station
that he confessed. He said it was the devil’s work and that he only made
an attempt to do it but did not do anything. The shreds of Esther’s
clothes are still with the police. He confessed that he parked his
motorcycle beside the house and stayed inside the compound for about 10
minutes before he went inside.
“They took our statement and gave
us a letter to go to the General Hospital for test. She did series of
tests, which confirmed that she was raped. I wish the incident didn’t
happen because even the parents of this girl are not yet aware. I want
them to come to Lagos before I tell them. It’s not the kind of news one
could share on the phone.”
Felicia pointed out that the girl had
been on drugs since the incident happened and that she had been a
recluse, whilst avoiding men the much she could. She lamented that their
house had already been known with such a “shameful” tag. “That boy
needs to learn a lesson,” she added.
A police
source confirmed that Wasiu had been charged to
court exactly three days after (penultimate Tuesday) and was being
remanded in the Kirikiri prison on the order of the court. The source
added that “the matter would come up for hearing sometime in October.”
Even
though Wasiu is cooling off in Kirikiri tentatively, Esther has already
been assaulted and might live with such painful memory for the rest of
time.