A 60-year-old bricklayer, Segun Benson, has been accused of raping and damaging the private parts of a primary six pupil on Mommoh Street in the Agege area of Lagos State.
Benson, who has an aged mother, was said to have never been married, while attempts by his mother to get him a wife had continually been turned down.
After he allegedly ravished the victim, he was said to have sent her out, despite the flow of blood from her private parts.
Residents had sighted the victim in a public bathroom writhing in pain. After bleeding from her private parts for a while, the 14-year-old was said to have collapsed.
She reportedly told concerned residents that Segun tricked her into his room with N50 and raped her.
When PUNCH Metro visited the area on Wednesday, he met a group of relatives still discussing the incident.
A resident and an eyewitness, who identified herself simply as Iya Egun, told PUNCH Metro she initially thought the victim was having her menstrual flow. She said:
“I saw her writhing in pain in a bathroom. She said she wanted to defecate, but I saw blood coming out of her private parts. I raised the alarm and when other people arrived at the scene, she said it was Segun that raped her.”
A relative, Okunloye Kehinde, said the victim’s private parts had been damaged. He said:
“I got a call around 2pm that fateful Saturday. When I got there, I saw a crowd of people around her. I saw a container filled with blood. Even her clothes were drenched in blood.”
Kehinde said he went with the victim’s father to report the incident at the Elere Police Division. The police, in company with some relatives of the victim, arrested the suspect in his house. The victim who walked with some difficulty said:
“I am in primary six. On Friday, he gave me N50 to buy sweet for myself. He then asked me to caress his private parts. When I told him I would tell my daddy, he said I should not go home.
“He took me to his house around Railway Line where he raped me. I was there from 3pm till around 7pm. I started bleeding from his house and when I got home the blood did not stop. But I kept it secret until Saturday when people saw it.”
Her mother, Taibat, said she had never met the suspect before,
“I have seven kids and she is the third child. I was sleeping when people called me that my daughter had been raped. I have never met the man before though he lives on the street. The government should take over the case and do what is right,” she said.
The suspect’s mother, Mrs. Tinuke Benson, who is in her nineties was also reached to talk about the incident. The woman, while fighting back tears, pleaded with PUNCH Metro to intervene on her behalf because the suspect was her only son. She said:
“Segun is my only child. I had four other children and they are all dead. He is the reason for my living. I don’t know why he did what he did.
“Each time I tried to get him a wife, he refused and told me he was old enough to look for a woman for himself. He said that many times without getting a wife. Please help me because he’s my hope.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.
He said, “The victim has also been taken to the hospital for necessary tests and the suspect is in custody.”
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