A certain man simply identified as Bamekpa who hails from Imiringi, Ogbia Local Government Area, of Bayelsa State, has been alleged to have serially raped and impregnated his 12-year-old daughter.
Bamekpa, according to reports, had continuously had canal knowledge of his daughter, Queen, since she was 11.
The last straw which broke the camel’s back was when he eventually impregnated her and then forced her to abort a four-month-old pregnancy through a crude process that currently threatens her life, as she is undergoing medical treatment in pains, The Nation reports.
The teenager in a chat with a human rights group, Operation Rescue, OPER, led by Princess Elizabeth Egbe, said she ran away from home when she could no longer bear her father’s ‘devilish craving.’
According to Queen, “There was nobody to help me. He kept doing it despite my efforts to stop him. It was a painful and violent experience. I ran away from home because there was a time I bled so much from my private part.
“When I became pregnant and he heard about it, he handed me over to a lady who took me through an unsuccessful process of abortion. I have been suffering series of health issues after the abortion,” she sobbed.
One David Apigi, Queen’s uncle, expressed shock at the way she was allegedly violated by her father, saying his niece told him the trauma she had been passing through in her father’s house and how her father had been using her, turning her to his second wife.
According to Apigi, “Queen said her father had sex with her to the extent that he aborted her four-month-old pregnancy.
“She ran to me and begged me not to allow her to return to her father’s house because she was tired. I decided to accommodate her. The father started looking for her without knowing she was with me.
“I reported the matter to the Kolo Police Station but asked them to hold on to enable me make some investigations.”
Apigi said after his investigations, he called his cousin, Rex Ogboku, in Abuja who reported the matter to the Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA.
“But FIDA was sluggish in the way it handled the matter,” Apigi noted.
“My cousin, Rex Ogboku, in Abuja called FIDA to inform them about the situation, but the way FIDA was going about the issue was too sluggish for my liking. I decided to contact the Operation Rescue.
“We went back to the police and the Otuasiga Police Station arrested the man. The process through which the Otuasiga Police Station was handling the case was still not satisfactory.
“Imagine a situation where somebody was arrested and while in detention he was still having access to his phone, making calls.
“He even called me. He called my uncle, trying to plead with him for settlement. I moved the case to Kolo Police Station,” Apigi noted, adding that his niece’s father was notorious for sexual perversion.
Apigi also alleged that Bamekpa had slept with his biological sisters.
He said the suspect repeatedly had carnal knowledge of his cousin’s daughter and forced her to commit abortion five times and that some of his victims were ready to testify against him.
Leader of the OPER human rights group, Egbe, lamented the condition of the girl and called on the society to protect the girl-child.
Egbe said, “The girl-child is tender and has a lot to contribute to nation-building.
“Our investigations showed that the little girl had been perpetually raped by her father who impregnated her and forced her through abortion that has left her with so many health problems.
“When the girl was pregnant, she did not know. Her stepmother discovered she was pregnant and informed the father. The father handed her over to a lady who took her to a quack doctor for an abortion.
“After the abortion, the girl came back home and discovered she was bleeding from her private part. The father took her to that same lady who then took her to other places. The girl is still in pains and highly traumatised. She has been going through series of medical treatments.
“We want the police to really investigate this matter and get to the root of the case.
“We want the doctor to be arrested, and we want everybody that is involved to be arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to other people who are involved in this act of perpetual evil against the girl-child,” Egbe added.
Comments