The Executive Director of DOHS Cares Foundation, Lolade Ajayi, has expressed her displeasure over the actions of Police personnel at Ogun State Police Command, Abeokuta, alleging them of “detaining” a rape victim and further asked that she should provide money to feed her alleged rapist while he is in their custody.
The alleged perpetrator, one Adesina, was said to have swooped on the 20-year-old lady moments after she handed him a wrapper to place on the floor to sleep.
Another issue that angered Ajayi was that Adesina pounced and sexually violated the victim, knowing quite well that she was sick and weak.
Ajayi, who believed that Adesina premeditated the rape, said that the suspect attacked the lady in the shanty she lives with her mom when he knew her mom was not around.
After Ajayi was alerted about the incident, she immediately followed up by reporting the matter at Ewekoro Police Station in Itori, where she said that the officers at the Human Rights/JWC unit were very upright in doing their job.
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The perpetrator was arrested, and thereafter Ajayi was assured that the matter would be transferred to Eleweran in Abeokuta.
Ajayi recounted: “I went to Ewekoro on Thursday, and I was with the survivor and her mom. The mom is a widow. The girl just clocked 20 years old and just finished secondary school. She’s very naïve.
“What happened was that Adesina noticed that the mom was not around that day. That child was in the store, where they sell foodstuff and it was usual for her and mom to sell till nightfall. The shack is close to the Dangote Factory.
“Adesina noticed that she was sick because she was weak and spoke weakly. People had to bend down and put their ears close to her mouth to hear what she said when she spoke. She had a serious ulcer.
“What eventually happened was that Adesina came in the night and said that the Dangote Factory had locked down for the night and there was nowhere they could sleep, they needed a place to sleep.
“The victim gave him a wrapper and pointed to a store across theirs, told him that the store was open and that he should go over there to sleep.
“The Dangote Factory sometimes used to lock up by 10pm and some workers will not be able to return home, so they just look for where to sleep in stores at the gate of the Dangote Factory.
“The survivor was just being a Good Samaritan. She gave him a wrapper that he should go and use it to lie down in the store not far from theirs. At night, while she was sleeping, Adesina slipped in and raped her. She could not even shout because she was not feeling fine. She was weak.
“He held her in the neck, removed her pants and raped her. After the act, he threw N2000 at her. She tore the money. He came back the following day to say he was sorry. She told him that she wouldn’t accept his apology. However, when her mom returned, Adesina denied raping her.
“He even bragged that mom and daughter wouldn’t be able to do anything to him and dared them to go to the Police. He knew that the woman and her daughter had no financial muscle to pursue a police case. He thought they would allow the matter to go. Eventually, when it was reported at our organisation, he was arrested.
“When the Divisional Police Officer of Ewekoro Police Station asked Adesina some questions, he told the DPO that the victim was his girlfriend. He further claimed that the lady seduced and solicited sex from him and that they agreed on N2000, which he said that he had paid her.”
Ajayi said: “How is it possible, that someone who was so sick, and couldn’t talk much, would choose that day to solicit sex? We wanted the case to be transferred out of Ewekoro Police Station to Eleweran.
“The Police asked the victim and her mom to charter a vehicle for the transfer of the case. I told the police that the woman didn’t have money, she was poor. The police said they couldn’t use their money to charter a vehicle. It degenerated into a quarrel.
“It was at Ewekoro Police Station that they asked her to stay behind the counter as if she was a suspect on detention. I was mad when I heard it and called the police. They told me that sometimes survivors abandon cases at the Police and that they put the victim behind the counter so that the mom would go and get the vehicle.
“I called the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and explained that my survivor was being traumatised. How can you put a rape victim behind the counter? Most times when rape victims are asked to bring money by the police, they go home and jettison justice. This makes the perpetrators go Scot-free. I didn’t want that to happen.
“The Ogun State Ministry of Women Affairs sent money to the victim’s mom to charter a vehicle to move the perpetrator to Eleweran, I also had to add money to make up the total sum needed for the vehicle.
“The interesting part is that when the case was transferred to Eleweran Command, the Police there said that until a date was chosen by them to charge the matter to court, the rape survivor and her mom will have to take care of the feeding of the perpetrator.
“They said that the survivor should pay N5000 for the perpetrator’s feeding. The mom even pleaded with them to accept N3000, that she would go and hustle for the balance of N2000, but they refused.
“I warned her not to send a dime to them. How can someone be a rape victim and then also be the person that will be feeding her rapist? Where does that kind of thing happen? I told her to tell them to call me. I’m the one that has been sending her money. So any money they needed from her, they should call me. We are still waiting for the matter to be charged to court.”
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