BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A 14-year-old girl (name withheld), who was allegedly raped serially in the space of one month by seven teenage boys in Osun State has been rehabilitated and offered scholarship.
The victim had attempted killing herself after her horrific experience in the hands of the teenage boys.
Burdened by her horrendous experience in the hands of the boys, alleged to have been involved in internet fraud, popularly known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo’, she attempted to take her life by consuming a poisonous substance.
The Point had reported that the girl, who lives in Osogbo, capital of Osun State, was raped in turn in hotels, open school field and other places they met her.
After the first alleged rape carried out in one of the hotels in Osogbo where she was reportedly video recorded by some of her abusers, the girl had been blackmailed with the sex tape into succumbing to the boys’ forceful sexual intercourse anytime and anywhere they met her.
The Point gathered that the seven friends, between the ages of 17 and 21, had carnal knowledge of the girl at different times between February and March, 2023.
Findings by our correspondent revealed that the female victim was wooed for a relationship by one of the seven friends, simply identified as Usman Abiodun Alowonle, an 18-year-old boy, and that after some days of pestering, she yielded to his advances.
Alowonle, who had informed his friends that the girl had accepted his romance proposal, allegedly took the girl to a hotel in Osogbo to have fun with her. His other six friends traced them to the hotel.
After Alowonle had already had sexual intercourse with the girl, his friends started knocking repeatedly at the hotel room door and asked Alowonle to allow them to have their turn.
It was gathered that the friends had engaged in fisticuffs after Alowonle denied them access to the hotel room.
The manager of the hotel was said to have intervened after the boys exchanged blows. Alowonle reportedly succumbed and also joined in abusing and raping his minor lover.
“The hotel manager mediated by asking the boys to enter the room and make love with the girl one after the other. During the sexual act, some of the boys were said to have made videos of the rape, which they used in threatening the girl. Ever since all of them raped the girl, wherever they met her, they would rape her. They raped her at a school field, and there was a day the girl said they raped her while coming from the Mosque in the evening. They all live in the same neighbourhood and that was why it was easy for the culprits to have their way after threatening her with the sex video they already had,” a security source informed The Point.
It was further gathered that when the victim got fed up with her ordeals, she left a suicide note for her parents where she narrated what she had been going through.
Sighting the suicide letter, her parents reportedly raised the alarm to a Non-Government Organisation before the incident was reported to the Osun State Department of State Services in Osogbo.
The DSS arrested three out of the seven boys and dragged them before an Osogbo Chief Magistrate’s Court.
The Point learnt that one of the suspects died mysteriously recently after their act was leaked. The three other suspects were said to have fled to unknown locations and were yet to be arrested as at the time of this report.
However, the three arrested suspects, including Usman Abiodun Alowonle, 18; Malik Tunde Kazeem, 17; and Sodiq Adewale Bello, 19, were docked by the secret police on two counts of conspiracy and rape.
According to the DSS prosecuting counsel, A. A. Ademodi, the three youngsters raped the 14-year-old girl at different places and on several occasions between the months of February and March, 2023.
The accused persons had pleaded not guilty to the crimes.
The state Ministry of Justice had taken over the matter which is now before an Osogbo High Court.
After the victim shared her ugly experience during the hearing, the court was moved to instruct the state government to take responsibility for the education of the girl.
It was gathered that the elder sister to Governor Ademola Adeleke, Mrs. Dupe Adeleke-Sanni, awarded a scholarship to the girl who is currently at the safe home of an NGO.
