Pastor and stepfather plus teacher charged to court over 5-year sexual abuse
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Police have arraigned in court five men, including a stepfather, a pastor, and a school teacher, for allegedly raping an 11-year-old girl in Buguma, Asari Toru Council, in Rivers over a period five years since the child was six.
Ebi Jack, 23; Fubara George, 22; Precious Wokoma, 20; Dennis Amaye Lugard, 53; and Alalibo Harry, 32; were arraigned at a magistrate’s court in Port Harcourt under charge sheet number PMCNO/1771C/2022.
Before the case went to court, the victim had told journalists the defendants – her stepfather, school teacher, pastor, and two youths, whom she described as area boys – had at different times sexually abused her since she was six years old.
Chief Magistrate Menenen Poromon directed an amendment of the charge and adjourned the case for the suspects to take their pleas and for bail consideration.
Sophia Afoloyan, Rivers Publicity Secretary of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), told The PUNCH the organisation would follow the matter to a logical conclusion.
“It is sad; it is degrading and it shows that you cannot even trust anybody,” she lamented.
“This little girl was allegedly raped by a teacher who was supposed to be a caregiver, defiled by the pastor of a church in Buguma and also raped by her so-called stepfather.”
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
Father gets life jail for raping his daughter, 14, and letting his friend impregnate her
Teenage girl wants her father jailed for raping her to have baby for her stepmother
Court remands Lagos doctor, Olaleye, over rape allegation
__________________________________________________________________
Victim is sick, tiny, malnourished
“This little girl has gone through a lot; she was also raped by two different hoodlums at different times. FIDA Rivers, we are bitter,” Afoloyan said, per The PUNCH.
“This little girl, who is an orphan, has been made to go through this torture in the hands of men much older than her.
“A 53-year-old man is among these people. And the church where she worships, in the name of a pastor, also did this to this girl.
“The girl looks sick, tiny and malnourished. FIDA is calling on parents, please don’t bring forth children you cannot cater for.”