Father of 2 Brutally Rapes Little Girl While Selling Groundnut in Lagos
An auto spare parts dealer, Martins Ukemezie, has been arrested by the police for allegedly raping a 13-year-old hawker in his shop at Iyanu bus stop, Meiran, Lagos State.
The victim, a primary six pupil, had reportedly sold N50 groundnuts to Ukemezie last Monday and was about to collect the money when the suspect allegedly dragged her into his shop and raped her.
Saturday PUNCH reports hat the teenager, who lives with her grandmother in the neighbourhood, went hawking that day around 4pm after she returned from school to raise part of her N5,000 school fees balance.
She was said to have returned home crying and narrated the incident to her aunt who made a report at the police station.
The aunt, Blessing, said the family had been enduring difficult times lately which forced her and the girl to engage in hawking in order to sustain the family.
She said the victim’s mother died after delivery and was living with her father in Abuja until last year when she relocated to Lagos after the father lost his job,
Blessing said.
“Around 5pm, she came back home crying. She said a man raped her. She led a neighbour and me to the man’s shop, but he had run away. His shop was open. There is another shop close to the man’s, but the shop did not open that day. We reported the case at the police station and a police officer followed us to the scene. We were there when the officer got a call that the man had reported at the station. We later knew he was married with two children. His shop is in front of his house. His family members were not at home when the incident happened.”
Blessing said her niece gave a vivid account of the incident at the police station but the man denied committing the crime, adding that he later admitted to have only made an attempt to rape her.
The girl was taken to a health centre in Meiran as well as Mirabel Centre in Ikeja for tests. The report of the test conducted on the girl at the health centre showed that she had lost her hymen.