Increasing cases of rape against minors cause agony for mothers, writes BUKOLA ADEBAYO
Shade has been through what no parent
wishes his or her child to experience: She was raped four times by a man
that is old enough to be her father.
Amuda was the jolly neighbour to the
Oduntans, but he later proved he is a beast in human skin. He raped
their 12-year-old daughter at the slightest opportunity.
The victim’s mother, Mrs. Kehinde
Oduntan, told our correspondent that she could never have imagined that
Amuda could hurt anyone physically, let alone her child, till her
daughter confessed that he had raped her four times.
Oduntan said, “I noticed that there was
semen on her pants one morning while I was preparing her for school.
After I threatened her, she confessed that our 47-year-old neighbour,
Amuda, had raped her and ordered her to keep it a secret between them.
“I was enraged. A 47-year-old man had
slept with my daughter four times! It was painful that we had never
suspected that this man was tormenting our daughter.”
Amuda was arrested, charged to court but
after intervention from their family pastor, church members, neighbours
and Amuda’s family in November last year, the Oduntans settled out of
court.
Mrs. Oduntan said,” He confessed and
begged for forgiveness. It is only God that can punish him for this evil
act. He destabilised my daughter and I leave the judgement to God. We
just wanted to move on with our lives. It was a terrible time in my
daughter’s life, and I just want to put it behind me.”
But in spite of that forced sense of
large-heartedness, the trouble is not yet over for the family –
especially for the young girl.
She says, “Since the time she was raped,
my daughter keeps seeing discharges from her private part. We thought
the problem would stop after a while but it hasn’t. It has been six
months after the unfortunate incident and she’s still seeing discharges
that doctors have said are unusual for a 12-year-old girl.
Oduntan is expecting the doctor’s final
verdict on this development next month. According to her, this will
inform the family’s next line of action.
Mulikat was also raped by her class
teacher in their school’s toilet. She is nine years, while Ijiwande,
the alleged rapist, is 29.
According to the Primary Four pupil of a
private primary school in Osogbo, Osun State, Ijiwande often engaged
in this dastardly act in the toilet after school lessons.
She said, “I was urinating when my
teacher pushed me to the ground and removed my pant and threw it away.
Though I shouted, no one could hear us because it was after school
hours. He slapped me and told me to shut up.
“He removed his private part and put it
in mine. I felt the pain in my thigh and back when Uncle was on top of
me. But I could not tell anyone because he said he would kill me.”
Her parents later discovered what had
happened, though she did not tell them. Her mother said, “She was
complaining of aches for four days. Then we took her to the hospital and
the doctor told us that our daughter was in pain because she had been
raped.”
Oyeleke was also Omotayo’s Mathematics and Social Studies teacher when he raped her as recently reported in The PUNCH.
He was caught naked, lying on top of her
on the school premises – incidentally, also in Osogbo. She is not the
only child that Oyeleke has allegedly raped in that class.
The victim’s mother said, “My son, who
is in the same class with my daughter, said the teacher was fond of
taking girls out of the classrooms during tutorials to unknown
destinations for hours, including his sister.
“We set a trap for him. My son came to
call me that Saturday morning during their lessons that the teacher had
taken another girl out again. We rushed to the school, went to the
toilet, and to our dismay, there he was on top of another child. It was a
horrible sight.”
Oyeleke said it was the devil’s work.
“I did not know what came over me. The
effect of what I did just dawned on me. I did not rape them. I just had
sex with them. It is the devil’s work,” he pleaded.
Other children have come out to give
accounts of assault in Oyeleke’s hands. He is now in police custody,
while parents and school authorities are awaiting the outcome of the
case.
In another recent sexual assault on
innocent souls, 36-year-old Ibiyemi, an employee of the Mainland Local
Government, Lagos, allegedly raped a nine-year-old girl, the exact
age of his daughter.
The victim was also a pupil of a public school in the LGA.
She said Ibiyemi lured her to his
apartment and tried to take off her clothes and after much struggle, he
also had his way with her.
In his statement to the police, Ibiyemi
denied every other allegation but admitted to one, saying, “I did not
rape her, I just penetrated her with my fingers.”
Investigations into the ages of victims
of rape reported in the media in the last one year revealed that more
minors are being sexually abused. These victims were mostly school
children. Yet, they were raped by persons they had a high level of
companionship with – neighbours, school teachers, or relatives and even
immediate family members.
Because of the terrible implication of
the crime, parents, school owners, doctors and other stakeholders have
called on guardians, government, and other policy makers to come up with
measures that can stem the tide.
Although he believes rape of minors –
and of any type – is condemnable in all ramifications, a school
proprietor, Dr. Jonathan Akpan, who spoke with our correspondent on
this trend, said parents who encourage indecent dressing among their
children should be blamed for increasing cases of rape of children.
According to him, the society was
becoming more oblivious to the level of moral decay among children, such
that parents now allow children to engage in activities that make them
vulnerable to sexual abuse.
He said, “It is the parents that caused
it. In our days, hardly would you see the armpits of an adult, not to
talk of a child. But go to our fast food joints these days, you will see
a mother with her child almost naked.
“A parent will buy a phone for her
child, and say, ‘It is just for me to call you. I won’t recharge it.’
But a neighbour, teacher, or uncle will tell the girl, ‘I will buy
recharge cards for the phone if you let me fondle you’, and the child
gets raped in the process. Who is at fault here?”
He added that some proprietors who
neglect the security and welfare of their pupils should also be held
liable for the increase in sexual assault on pupils.
Akpan said, “Politicians are now
establishing schools. They hire people to take care of them. Anybody
that is not passionate about children should have no business with
establishing a school.
“Government has a role to play because
schools that do not conform to the national policy should be shut down.
Mushroom schools are sprouting everywhere. I call them schools with
hidden corners where devilish acts are encouraged.”
Akpan also said there was an urgent need
for parents, school teachers and religious organisations to address
the level of moral decadence among young children in the society.
Another public school teacher, Mrs.
Mojisola Olasupo, said more children were being raped due to increasing
parental neglect and the dearth of communal relationships in the
society.
Olasupo said, ‘‘Parents are no longer
raising their children. They do not spend time with them. They are left
at the mercy of neighbours, house helps and uncles. Some have more
children than they can cater for and they start distributing them to
relatives who do not even care about them.
“In our days, people were more
observant; but now, even neighbours will see a child is being assaulted
and they do not care. The child cries for help or is trying to say
something. they act as if they cannot hear them. Even some are raped
under their parents’ noses, but the parents can’t see this because they
are busy chasing money.”
She also corroborated Akpan’s view that more children were dressing indecently and this could expose them to rape.
“The way children are dressed by their
parents these days, may God help us. Imagine a four-year-old with
‘permed’ hair and in leggings and we know how fast they grow. Yet, you
leave them with people who are already lusting after them. Rape is an
experience that leaves everlasting scars on children, no parent should
be careless as to let it happen.”
Olasupo, however, called on government
to introduce stiffer penalties for those that have been convicted of
rape to discourage others from engaging in the act.
She said, “I think stiffer penalties
will make more men ‘zip up ’, as they say these days. It will serve as a
deterrent to others. Investigations of rape should be brought to
conclusive end and culprits should be punished. Parents must not be
timid to just settle out of court because their action would determine
the fate of others.”
Olasupo also charged teachers to be more
observant and attuned to the social behaviour of their pupils. This,
she said, could help them discover pupils that were being abused in
their schools.
The Head of Psychology Department,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile –Ife, Prof. Toba Elegbeleye, said the
medical explanation for rape is sexual immaturity. According him, the
people involved can simply not control their sexual urge.
Elegbeleye said rapists would also require clinical and psychiatric evaluation.
He said, “They are non-compliant. That
means something in their psychological profile has been unhinged and
they cannot control their sexual urge. When they have the urge, they can
rape a child, an adult, goat or chicken.”
Elegbeleye added that any child that has been assaulted should be rehabilitated for a change in sexual orientation.
According to him, rape victims, especially children, are prone to suffer lifelong psychological and emotional trauma.
“ A child that has been raped should be
taken to a rehabilitation centre, where she can be examined and
counselled. But that is not the case here. When rape happens, many
people who should know do not even know what department they should
refer the case to, “he noted.
Elegbeleye also stated that the inadequate punishment for rape in Nigeria could be the attraction for this crime.
He said, “The law is inadequate. Our
penal code recommends just one or two years for the offender and it even
has an option of fine. This is criminal and it encourages rape.”
Speaking on the medical impact of rape
on minors, a consultant in Fetal Medicine, Dr. Femi Oloyede, said the
child could suffer long or short-term consequences.
He said, “A child will experience pains
in her body. She may bleed and also suffer injuries in her genital
areas. I have seen people that bled to death after rape. The long-term
effect is that the child may have contacted some infections like
HIV/AIDS, pelvic inflammatory disease, which can affect reproductive
organs like the fallopian tubes. Any damage to the fallopian tube will
lead to infertility.”
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