A 23-year-old National Diploma (ND) student of Mass Communication Department, Ibarapa Polytechnic, yesterday, narrated how she was raped under a tree by one of the security men attached to Operation Burst set up by Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State to check criminality in the state.

The incident was said to have happened in Eruwa from 10:30 pm on August 29 this year while she was returning after seeing off a friend.

She said she was raped repeatedly for five hours before she was let off the hook by the rapist soldier.

According to her, the soldier allegedly ordered her to climb the motorcycle while threatening to stab her with a knife.

She said: “It happened on Friday, August 29, 2014. I was coming back to my room after seeing off a friend. He accused me of being a cultist for moving about around that time, but I denied it. He then ordered me to climb his motorcycle, but I pleaded with him that he should let me go.

“He removed a knife and said that he would stab me if I refused to obey him. So scared, I climbed the Okada and he took me to the Operation Burst office in Eruwa.

“When we got there, he forcefully led me to a dark area under a tree and ordered me to remove my dress to enable him see if I had tattoos on my body.

“I told him I did not have tattoos and that he should let me go. He then removed the knife again and said that he would slaughter me like a ram if I failed to ‘cooperate’ and that I would be buried like many other girls who had failed to cooperate in the past, and nobody would trace my death to him.

“Sensing danger, I removed my clothes. He ordered me to lie down under the tree and had sex with me several times while I was crying.

“He raped me till 3.30 am and I complained of catching cold. He entered into the office and brought out a bottle of beer. He gave it to me to hold for him.

“Later he said he was going to bring a blanket for me to cover my body. I waited for about 30 minutes, but when he did not return, I dressed up and ran away.”

The victim’s counsel, Mr. Adeosun, confirmed her story, saying: “In the morning of Saturday, August 30, 2014, the victim called her parents on the telephone and told them what happened. It was the parents that came to brief our office. We thereafter advised that the victim should report to the Police Station at Eruwa, which she did.”

When the matter was reported to the security outfit, the girl identified the rapist among other security operatives paraded before her.

To worsen her ordeal, the Eruwa General Hospital where she went for test did not help matter.

According to her, on arrival in the hospital, the doctor she met told her to buy hand gloves which she did.

She said: “The doctor told me to lie down and use his phone torchlight to examine my private part and wrote a report that although there was no trace of semen, the private part had been tampered with.”

It was gathered that the doctor claimed he could not carry out test on the inner part of the vagina because the hospital did not have the facilities to carry out such test.

The victim’s lawyer said a soldier called him at 8:25 pm on Sunday informing him that the Army had commenced court martial trial on the indicted soldier, but that the student must appear to testify.

Responding, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, quoted the security outfit as saying it had recommended the suspect for disciplinary measure for abandoning his duty post.

In a statement issued by the outfit’s Second in Command, CSP Elijah Bawa, “immediately the outfit was informed of the allegation of rape against the said soldier, he dispatched an investigation team to Eruwa.

“The team met with the Divisional Police Officer for the Eruwa Division, DSP Kayode Adigun, who disclosed that the 23-year-old Mass Communication student of the school lodged a complaint with the command that she had been raped by the soldier who was also an operative of the anti-crime outfit.

“The outfit’s Second in Command and the DPO took the complainant to the Eruwa General Hospital for medical examination, the result of which they said proved negative.

“The soldier will, however, be charged for abandoning his duty post in the night without permission against standing instructions in the Operation Burst’s code of conduct,”

•Credit: Vanguard.

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