A mother, Mrs Zainab Musa, residing in the Ketu area of Lagos State, has cried out over what she described as an orchestrated attempt by some police officers to frustrate efforts to secure justice for her 15-year-old daughter, who was allegedly raped inside a tutorial class in Ketu.

It was gathered from the survivor’s mother on Tuesday that the suspect (name withheld), who was the survivor’s lesson teacher, allegedly threatened to kill the teenager if she disclosed the incident to anyone.

The mother said the incident only came to light after officials of her daughter’s school contacted her.

“On Wednesday, two weeks ago, when they called me from my daughter’s school, she hadn’t even told me. She told the teacher because the man had threatened to kill her if she told me. That was when the school narrated everything to me,” she said.

She further alleged that the suspect later went to the school in search of her daughter.

“They told me that the suspect even came to the school to look for my daughter. He gave her N500 and a PT tool. The evidence is with the police in Ketu,” she added.

Recounting the incident, Mrs Musa said her daughter told her it occurred inside the tutorial class before other students arrived.

“My daughter usually goes to the lesson class after school. She said she was the first person there that day when he raped my daughter. The suspect is our neighbour. My house is directly opposite his. We didn’t believe he could do this.”

According to her, the suspect and members of his church repeatedly visited her home after the incident, pleading for forgiveness.

“He came to my house to beg for forgiveness. His church members also came, saying it was a mistake and begging us to forgive him.

“A few days later, he came back again, pleading that we should let it go. That made me even angrier. He still had the guts to keep telling me to forget everything.”

She said the family eventually reported the matter at the Ketu Police Station, where the suspect was arrested.

However, she alleged that instead of pursuing the case, some police officers repeatedly pressured her family to accept N200,000 and withdraw the matter.

“It was last Thursday that the police kept calling me, telling me I should collect money and that we should bury the matter,” she alleged.

She further claimed that the policewoman assigned to take them to court also attempted to discourage them from proceeding with the case.

“On the very day we were supposed to go to court, she asked if we still wanted to go. I told her we wanted justice. She then asked my daughter, who also said she wanted justice.

“The policewoman said, ‘You want to go to court, abi? You, this woman, you still want to go to court? Sebi they said you should collect money and forget it.’ she said that right inside the police station.”

The mother also alleged that the same officer insisted she write another statement even though both she and her daughter had already made statements.

“She wanted me to write another statement, but I refused because my daughter and I had already written our statements.”

He said the situation took a dramatic turn moments later when officers announced that the suspect had suddenly collapsed.

“As I was speaking, they started shouting from outside that somebody had fainted. They brought out the man.

“The police started saying I was a wicked woman. They were shouting, ‘You are wicked. This man is dying, and you are still saying you want to go to court. Can you not withdraw the case? Withdraw it now.’

“They wanted to confuse me before my brother could come and join us, so they took the suspect away from the station.”

According to her, while the suspect was being taken away, his family members also pleaded with her to abandon the case.

“All the family members were begging me, saying, ‘Please, forget it.’ I did not answer them. I simply told them to take him to the hospital.”

She accused the police of taking the lead in persuading the family to settle the matter out of court despite the alleged rape and threats against her daughter.

“The police were playing the lead role in begging us to collect money after my daughter was raped and threatened with death if she told me.

“One police officer was talking to me while another took my daughter aside. They even asked my daughter that we should collect N200,000.”

Expressing her suspicion about the conduct of the officers, the mother said she believed there was a deliberate effort to prevent the suspect from facing prosecution.

“I feel the police are trying to shield Michael from being prosecuted. The way I see it, the man could not have just fainted. It looked like a planned act.

“Even the fainting appeared staged. But I don’t think the DPO knows about it because I never saw him.”

While calling for justice for the survivor and her family, the founder of DOHS Cares Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that combats gender-based violence and monitors femicide cases, Ololade Ajayi, urged the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to intervene in the matter before the suspect allegedly escapes from the hospital where he was taken.

Ajayi alleged that some police officers had been pressuring the survivor’s mother to withdraw the case.

“They have been pressuring the mother to withdraw the case. Her 15-year-old daughter was raped by her home lesson teacher.

“It was on the day they were supposed to take the perpetrator to court that they claimed he fainted. It is beginning to look like a ruse to prevent the perpetrator from facing the law. All the evidence, including the medical report, is with the police.

“We appeal to the Commissioner of Police to intervene because it appears there is a plan to allow this suspect to escape before the matter even gets to court,” she said.

When contacted on Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Abimbola Adebisi, confirmed that the assault case was reported at the Ketu Police Station on June 13 and that the suspect was arrested and detained the same day.

“The suspect was arrested on the same date and detained at the station for detailed investigation,” she said.

Adebisi explained that while the case was being prepared for arraignment on June 15 in the presence of the survivor and her mother, the suspect suddenly collapsed and required urgent medical attention.

“He was immediately rushed to the Lagos State Emergency Hospital at Toll Gate, where he was admitted, and was later transferred to Gbagada General Hospital,” she added.

Responding to the allegation that police officers attempted to persuade the family to settle the matter, Adebisi dismissed the claim as “a mere allegation” and “not true.”

“The case is still ongoing, and the suspect will be arraigned in court as soon as he is fit to face justice,” she said. (The PUNCH, but headline rejigged)

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