BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
A middle-aged married man, Nelson Ogbonnaya Igwe has been dragged before Ebonyi Family Law Centre, a special family court in the state, for allegedly defiling and sexually molesting his housemaid for about six years.
The victim, a 13 year-old girl (name withheld), native of Akahufu village Inyimaegu community in Izzi Local Government Area of the state, has reportedly been impregnated by Igwe, said to be a husband to the aunt of the victim.
The primary six pupil of Akahufu Primary School Inyimaegu Izzi reported to the family court that Igwe started defiling her when she was seven years old.
She narrated how her parents gave her to her aunt, Mrs Onyinyechi Ogbonnaya Igwe as house help six years ago with a condition to sponsor her through school while she stayed with her and Igwe after their wedding ceremony.
She said when she visited her parents last year during Christmas, they discovered her condition and when medical test was conducted on her, she was discovered to have been put in family way allegedly by her master, Igwe.
Addressing the family court, the victim said, “I am 13 years old. I was just 7 years when my parents gave me out to live with one Mrs. Paulina Okeh. From there, Mrs Okeh gave me to her married daughter, Onyinyechi Ogbonnaya Igwe. Since then, I was living with them and carrying their babies for them. But her husband, Mr Nelson Ogbonnaya Igwe started molesting me sexually. I didn’t know how to tell my aunt about it.
“He (Igwe) forced me and had sexual intercourse with me. I ran to my parents home but couldn’t be able to explain to them what the man is doing to me. Because I couldn’t explain, my mother sent me back, pleaded with me to stay with the family since they are sponsoring my education which they (my family) couldn’t.
“This continued until he impregnated me in my primary 6. Because of this pregnancy, I have dropped out of school. It was when I went to stay with my parents for 2021 Christmas holiday that they noticed my condition. I didn’t even know that I am pregnant. When they went to Mr Igwe to ask him, he took us to the village head. After investigation, he could not deny that he had sex with me severally. Then, the chairman directed my parents to report the matter to Family Law Center for resolution.”
“I am 13 years old. I was just 7 years when my parents gave me out to live with one Mrs. Paulina Okeh. From there, Mrs Okeh gave me to her married daughter, Onyinyechi Ogbonnaya Igwe. Since then, I was living with them and carrying their babies for them. But her husband, Mr Nelson Ogbonnaya Igwe started molesting me sexually. I didn’t know how to tell my aunt about it
“
The victim’s mother, Mrs Rose Nwomege who accompanied her to lodge the complaint at the law centre, Abakaliki, sought that the man be compelled to take care of the pregnant minor and then be prosecuted for distorting the progress of her life.
“I want Mr Nelson Ogbonnaya Igwe to take care of the little girl he put in family way, pay for her delivery expenses and take care of both mother and child up to a year and six months of birth. I also want him prosecuted when found guilty after the test,” Nwomege urged the court.
Responding to the accusations at the court, Igwe denied having any sexual affair with the housemaid and demanded for conduct of a DNA test to ascertain true paternity of the unborn baby.
After listening to both parties, the Chairman of the Family Law Center, Mrs Elizabeth Nwali, during her ruling, ordered Igwe to care for the pregnant minor till after delivery when a DNA test would be conducted .
She noted that Igwe would be refunded all he would have spent if exonerated by the DNA test results. The centre asked him shoulder responsibilities of caring for the girl and her pregnancy up to two years after delivery in the meantime.
