The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 33-year-old security man,
Freedom Barryneh, for allegedly raping his neigbour’s daughter, aged eight.
The incident reportedly happened on Akali Street, in the Ajegunle area
of Lagos State after the victim, Sandra (pseudonym), approached the suspect and
requested N10 from him to buy biscuit.
PUNCH Metro learnt that
after giving her the money, Barryneh, who was watching a pornographic film when
the minor entered his apartment, persuaded her to stay with him.
While the movie was on, he
allegedly told Sandra to undress but she declined, saying her mother would beat
her for doing so.
The suspect, however, allegedly
resorted to force and allegedly dragged her into bed and raped her.
Our correspondent gathered that
Sandra, who was warned by the suspected rapist not to disclose the act to
anybody, eventually opened up to her mother when she began to feel pains in her
private parts.
The victim said, “I asked Mr.
Freedom (Barryneh) to give me N10 to buy biscuit and he did. He took me inside
his room. He was watching one video that was showing naked men and women. He
asked me to remove my clothes, but I said my mother would beat me. He pushed me
and put me on his bed. He removed my clothes and put his thing inside my
private parts. I was afraid of telling my mother.”
Her mother, identified only as
Ellen, reported the incident at the Ajegunle Police Division which led to the
suspect’s arrest on March 3.
PUNCH Metro saw that
the results of medical tests conducted on the girl at the Ajeromi General
Hospital, Lagos, stated, “Hymen broken with bruises around the infroitus.”
The result, which was signed by
one Dr I.A. Dauda, also stated that she suffered from “whitish foul smelling
vaginal discharge.”
Barryneh, who hails from Rivers
State, admitted giving the girl N10 to buy biscuit, but denied raping her. He
added that the allegation was an attempt to blackmail him.
He said, “I work with a private
security outfit. She and her friends were playing when she came to me that she
needed N10 to buy biscuit. She stood somewhere in my room waiting for the
money. I was watching a love movie titled, ‘Naked Weapon’. It involved sex. I
was surprised when her mother reported at the station that I raped her
daughter. I never had sex with the girl. I only gave her the money.”
A police prosecutor, Woman
Sergeant Francisca Okere, brought Barryneh before an Apapa Magistrate’s Court
on two counts of rape.
Okere told the court that the
offence contravened sections 137 and 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State,
2011.
The charges read in part, “That
you, Freedom Barryneh, sometime in August 2015, at about 14.30 hours on Akali
Street, Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos, in the Apapa Magisterial District, did
penetrate sexually with your penis the privare parts of an eight-year-old girl,
thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 259 of
the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty
to the charge before the presiding magistrate, Mrs. O.A. Adegite, who admitted
him to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
While adjourning for March 24,
2016, Adegite added that the sureties must be gainfully employed and must
present to the court evidence of tax payments.
Source:
THE PUNCH
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