6year old Miss Sharon Eghobamien, a pupil of Eriya Group of Schools, Ihogbe, Benin-City, Edo State, was playing in her mother’s shop when three randy male students of the School of Nursing, Benin, swooped on her, whisked her away to a hideout where they defiled her.
She gave the names of the suspected rapists as Kennedy, Paul Aghama and Jeffery, saying they carried out the escapades whenever she (Mrs Eghobamien) was not around. Suspicion: Mrs. Eghobamien told Niger Delta Voice that she became apprehensive that something grave might have happened to her daughter when she noticed that she was not walking normally and always complained of abdominal pains, urinating frequently and defecating. That was on the May 25, 2015.When she was questioned by her mother, Mrs. Rachel Eghobamien, a petty trader, who observed that her daughter was always complaining of abdominal pains, frequent urinating and defecating, she opened up on how the three students usually whisk her through the window, take her to their hostel and ra.pe her.
Charge of defilement
“I begin to question her and she then told me that whenever I am not in the shop, these boys always took her away through the window to their hostels to defile her” “I took her to the Central Hospital Benin where she was examined by a doctor and it was discovered that she had been defiled and her hymen was already broken. I then reported the case at the Aideyan Police Station, Benin City and from there it was transferred to Esigie Police Station, the section in charge of defilement cases in Benin.”
Strange development
She disclosed that while the matter was still with the Edo State Police Command, where the suspected students were detained pending police investigation, something curious happened.
Her words, “While police officers at Esigie Police Station were carrying out discreet investigation to unravel the intrigues behind the defilement as instructed by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. James Ezike, the suspects and their cohorts concocted a frivolous petition to the office of the AIG, Zone 5.”
Mrs Eghobamien, a casual worker at the School of Nursing, said while the suspects under investigation by the state Police Command were in detention, some officials of the School of Nursing, Benin approached her to withdraw the case from the police.
She said she refused and they deprived her from removing her things from the school until date. Consequently, she said that her life was threatened and following the boasting from the suspects that they have some powerful individuals, who would use their positions to influence the Office of the AIG, Zone 5 investigating the case to give them a safe landing, she decided to consult a Benin based legal practitioner, Olayiwola Afolabi, on the issue.
Incredulous police report: Afolabi in a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, appealed to him to allow an independent panel of police investigators in- charge of defilement matters other than those from the office of the AIG Zone 5 to conduct fresh investigation into the case.
He said that some powerful persons used their positions to influence the office of the AIG, Zone 5 to sweep the heinous crime under the carpet and more so, cases of rape fall under the purview of the state Police Command.
The solicitor asserted, “To our greatest chagrin, our client was told that the said investigation report contains among other things that her daughter, who is only six years old is the one responsible for her broken hymen by using instruments to penetrate her vagina; this fact only points to one direction – that the boasting of the suspects was true.”
“The curious thing about this matter is that while the case was pending at AIG Zone 5, Ministry of Health officers that oversee the School of Nursing called our client to come with her daughter that was defiled. After our client and her daughter had made statement to them, they began to ask her what exactly she wanted with the case at the AIG Zone 5, using her words.
“We have laboured to bring before the Inspector General of Police the various intrigues associated with this case due to the fact that the family of the victim has no money but we believe the Inspector General of Police is only our hope in this matter,” he said.
Arase overrules AIG
Following the petition from the legal practitioner, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, reverted an earlier report from the AIG’s office, which stated that the six-year-old girl penetrated her private part with instruments. He directed the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezkike, through his Principal Staff Officer, Idowu Owohunwa (ACP), to step up investigation into the case.