A 30-year-old teacher, Promise Sylvanus Ogun, of Government Secondary School, Toroegbeni, in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, has allegedly raped a minor to death.
The suspect was said to have owned up to the rape before family and compound chiefs and allegedly paid the deceased hospital bill at a private hospital in Opolo area of Yenagoa, the state capital.
However, the suspect allegedly made a U-turn by accusing the father of the deceased of a threat to life before the Area Command of the Police in Sagbama.
It was gathered that civil society organisations and girl child advocacy groups in the state including the Girl Response Initiative Team set up by the wife of the state Governor, Mrs. Gloria Diri, and the DO Foundation led by Dise Ogbise-Erhisere are planning to visit the State Police Commissioner, Mike Okoli, to demand proper investigation and arrest of the alleged rapist.
The civil society groups are angered by the fact that instead of investigating the alleged rape and death of the 13-year-old girl, the police are busy summoning the deceased’s father over the trumped-up charges of the alleged threat to life by the accused teacher.
Investigation revealed that the deceased teenager, sometime in March 2020 was waylaid and molested by the waterside in Ogoibiri community of Sagbama where she had gone to take her bath and allegedly raped twice by the suspected teacher.
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The Father of the deceased, Pinaowei Gana, said the girl did not report she was violated and raped by him.
He stated: ”She kept it to herself and was bleeding little by little. About two months later, we noticed some strange smell and she complained of serious sickness. We took her to a local massage therapist and we were told that the child had been defiled and infected.
“We took her back to tell my landlord and some elders about her defilement. She confirmed it was the teacher. The teacher pleaded that I should not go to the police and that he would pay for her treatment and settle with the family.
“He (the teacher) took her to a private hospital in Opolo where she was admitted for over a week. But he came back and discharged the child without the doctor’s advice and dumped her with me. Two days later, the girl died.”
The deceased father also confirmed that after he raised the alarm over the death of her child, the suspect, and his entire family moved out of the area.
He, however, said the suspect’s father deposited the corpse of the girl at the mortuary along the Amassoma road pending the resolution of the conflict.
Speaking on the development, the Founder of the DO Foundation, Dise Ogbise-Erhisere, confirmed that the deceased died from complications of rape, insisting that the girl child advocacy groups were planning to visit the Commissioner of Police over the matter.
She stated: “A crime has been committed and the culprit has admitted to the crime. They need to ensure he is arrested and prosecuted.
“On the reported petition of the alleged paedophile, the police need to investigate and determine who is culpable and where the corpse of the defiled and deceased child is.”
She called on the police authorities to transfer the case from Area Command in Sagbama to the State Police Headquarters in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The Nation
