A woman simply identified as Mrs Dike Happiness has been arrested alongside a nurse in the Mafoluku, Oshodi area of Lagos State for allegedly aborting the pregnancy of a 12-year-old girl, identified only as Favour.
Favour, according to the Punch is Mrs. Dike’s neice who was allegedly impregnated by her husband, Dike Johnbull.
Johnbull had reportedly raped the victim several times before she conceived.
It was said that Johnbull, a father of three, and his wife, Happiness, found out that Favour was four months pregnant in February, after which they bundled her to stay with their trader friend in Mafoluku, to hide the evil deed but the woman was said to have returned Favour to the couple in April, saying she could not afford to take care of her.
The couple, who lived on Brown Street, subsequently took Favour to an unnamed nurse on Sunmola Street, Mafoluku to get rid of the pregnancy.
Some residents who were in the know gave a tip-off to a child rights’ group, Child Protection Network, which involved the police, thereafter, officers from the Akinpelu Police Division accosted them, apprehending Happiness and the nurse while a manhunt was launched for Johnbull, a tricycle rider, who fled the area.
The police rescued the girl and reportedly kept her in of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, DSVRT, in Alausa.
A worker with the DSVRT Child Protection Network, Ebenezer Omejalile, said Favour did not inform her aunt about the rape, because according to her, the suspect threatened to kill her if she did.
Omejalile said, “The case was brought to my attention by a community development committee secretary in Oshodi, Mr. Mamora.
“The victim was raped and impregnated by her aunt’s husband.
“I went to see the girl at the place where the aunt had taken her with the connivance of a nurse to abort the pregnancy. The girl underwent a scan before the abortion. It was a failed process because she began to bleed at the nurse’s place. The police were informed on that Wednesday and the two women were arrested, while Johnbull fled.
“The policemen took Favour to a proper hospital to get rid of the remaining foetus. As it is, the suspect is on the run because he knew that the girl is with the police.”
Meanwhile, Happiness said her husband had fled from the house since the day of her arrest.
She said, “He has not called me since that day. His phone numbers are also switched off.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident on Tuesday, noting that the police were on the trail of Dike.
She said, “There is a case of defilement against Johnbull. His wife and the nurse have been arrested for aborting a pregnancy.
“Our investigation shows that the nurse is a quack. She is not trained and she proceeded to do abortion for a 12-year-old girl.
“The suspect’s wife has a two-year-old son who is being treated for an infection. So, she has been granted bail. She did not deny that they wanted to abort the pregnancy. The story they painted to the nurse was that the girl was raped by an unidentified hoodlum.
“The suspect is on the run, but efforts are on to arrest him. Meanwhile, the wife and the nurse will both be charged to court.
“The Commissioner of Police has ordered that the case be transferred to the Gender Unit of the command,” the PPRO added.
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