Osun State Government has vowed that it would pursue the case of rape of a 14-year-old physically challenged girl, saying the matter would not be abandoned.
Notwithstanding her physical disabilities, the teenager, (names withheld) revealed how she was turned into a sexual object by three of her mother’s neighbours in Osogbo, capital of Osun State.
She explained how three men who live in her mother’s compound took advantage of her physical disabilities and her mother’s poor economic condition to defile and rape her for about a year.
The Police in Osun State had arrested two of the culprits, Adeboye Dele, a 39-year-old commercial bus driver and Olayiwola Itunu, aged 29 and dragged them before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Osogbo.
The Point gathered that the third suspect simply identified as Blessing, said to be a staff of the First City Monument Bank, ran away from Osogbo.
They were accused of conspiring and defiling the girl between the year 2023 and January 12, 2024 at about 4:00pm at Ayegbaju Market area, Osogbo.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the allegations before Chief Magistrate Olusegun Ayilara ordered the Police Prosecutor, Inspector Fatoba Temitope to forward the duplicate of the case file to the Department of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
Ayilara ordered that the accused persons be remanded in the Correctional Centre and adjourned the matter till June 27 for mention.
When the matter was mentioned at the court recently, the defendants were not produced by the staff of the Correctional Centre.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has taken over the matter which was further adjourned till September 26.
Reacting, Kamil Aransi, Special Adviser on Special Needs to Governor Ademola Adeleke, said the matter would not be abandoned and that the state government would collaborate with appropriate organizations to bring about justice.
He disclosed that the government would always frown at perpetrators who defile people against their consent.
In an exclusive interview, the victim narrated how Blessing, a father of two children, would always come into the bathroom with her and sexually abuse her.
When Blessing was eventually caught red handed, he was said to have begged for forgiveness and the victim’s middle-aged mother forgave him.
Few weeks after her agonizing experience in the hands of Blessing, the teenage girl was allegedly raped on several occasions by two other men who live with her mother at the Ayegbaju Market Area of Osogbo.
A bachelor, Olayiwola Itunu, said to be a labourer, was accused of being in the habit of sneaking into the victim’s room whenever her mother steps out of the room around 6:30am to hawk pap.
Traumatized by Itunu’s constant abuse, the victim who limps while walking decided to confide in a married woman in her compound.
Instead of the woman to take actions to protect the girl from sexual predators around her, The Point gathered that the woman discussed the matter with her husband identified as Adeboye Dele, who took the advantage of the information and joined in the rape of the girl.