Chinwe Jonah, the mother of a 16-year-old girl from Amumara in Ezeinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, who was allegedly gang-raped by three church security guards, has raised calls for justice for her child.
Over seven months after a 16-year-old girl from Amumara in Ezeinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State was allegedly gang-raped by three church security guards, justice is yet to come the poor girl’s way.
The victim was allegedly raped on the 9th of December, 2023, after she attended a church programme at the Apostolic Church Amumara, in Ezinihitte Mbaise, according to the mother, Chinwe Jonah.
According to the victim’s mother, the programme had lasted beyond midnight into the early hours of the next day, and some young girls who attended decided to stay back inside the church until dawn before going home as they considered it unsafe to go home at those wee hours.
She however revealed that one of the church security guards identified simply as ‘Ibu’ from Obibi village, came and asked her daughter to leave the church and go home.
“My daughter said Ibu told her that she must go and then came up with the story that the youth chairman of Obibi (the village where the church is located) was coming with the police to arrest her.
“My girl asked ‘Ibu’ what offense she had committed, which he did not say and ordered her at gunpoint to follow him to a safe place.
“Gripped by fear, the helpless girl followed ‘Ibu’ who ended up taking her to an unoccupied building nearby where he and two other men gang-raped her for many hours, leaving her thoroughly abused and bruised physically and emotionally.”
She continued; “My daughter returned home that morning, looking weak, in pain, crying and bleeding, and narrated her horrific ordeal in the hands of the three beasts.
“I immediately dashed out to Obibi village to confront ‘Ibu’ whom I know and to report the incident to the village council. Upon arrival, I met a gathering of the village members in a meeting, and Ibu was there.
“The villagers questioned ‘Ibu’ why he committed such a grave abomination and ‘Ibu’ asked for her forgiveness and blamed it on the devil.
“Afterwards, I reported the incident to a joint security patrol team that was stationed around the church and they called the youth president of the community, identified as Toniga, who arrived and persuaded me not to take the matter to the police but to allow him and other youths to settle the matter. Meanwhile, I had informed my brother living in Abuja, who incidented the matter at Ezinihitte Police Division.
“The youth president (Toniga), whom I later realized was friends with the culprits, called me hours later and asked me to meet him and others, including one Chibuenyi Nwachukwu at a local bar. Chibuenyi Nwachukwu is from the same Obibi village as the culprits who also are his employees.
“When I arrived at the bar, I met the 3 rapists among others. Toniga and Chibuenyi asked the three rapists to kneel down and apologize to me and they did. They then asked me to withdraw the case from the police and Chibuenyi promised to raise some money to give me to treat my daughter.
“I refused and insisted that I wanted a proper police investigation of the incident, considering the severity of the physical and psychological injury inflicted on my girl.
“Seeing that I was insistent on pursuing the matter at the police, Chibuenyi, and Toniga took me aside and subtly threatened me by asking me to accept money and abandon the case for my life and that of my daughter.
“The threat instilled fear in me, and considering that I had nobody to back me, made me accept to withdraw the case from the police. They then gave me some money ostensibly to treat my daughter. But the condition of my girl remains a cause for concern.”
It was gathered that the matter was later reported to a rights group, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, who upon receiving the information, contacted the woman, who narrated her ordeal.
According to the Executive Director of RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma, the woman’s account also revealed the tardiness by the Ezinihitte police division in handling the case, even as she expressed her willingness to pursue an effective police investigation of the case to ensure that her daughter gets justice and the perpetrators brought to account.
“RULAAC contacted the DPO Ezinihitte Police Division who confirmed that the case of defilement of a minor by three (3) men was reported and still under investigation at his station but added that they had been unable to arrest the suspects.
“Subsequent efforts by RULAAC to get feedback from the DPO and his men about the progress of the investigation met a brick wall.
“When it became clear that the DPO was bent on compromising the investigation, RULAAC reported the case and the DPO’s conduct to the Commissioner of Police Imo State who summoned the DPO and subsequently transferred him out of the Division.
“Ikechukwu Inyama (the chief security officer of the community) who was standing in for the mother of the victim at the local police station reported that the DCO of the Division was unhappy and threatened him for giving information to RULAAC which led to the organization reporting them to the CP, thereby endangering their job.
“Following this, Chibuenyi Nwachukwu whom the 3 rapists are referred to as his boys, and who had been at the center of efforts to compound felony including shielding the ‘boys’ and offering money to settle the case, accosted Ikechukwu Inyama (the CSO) at a drinking spot in the market square and attacked him, accusing him of supporting the victim’s mother in reviving the case after they had agreed with the woman to ‘settle’ it at the police station.
“Ikechukwu Inyama reported the case of assault on him by Chibuenyi and others at the local division. But instead of investigating the case, the DPO tutored Chibuenyi (the accused) to write a counter-petition to Zone 9, Umuahia, against the complainant. The DPO then invited the CSO, and he went to honor the invitation, believing that it was in furtherance of an investigation into his complaint against Chibuenyi for assault.
“Upon arriving at the division, he was whisked off to Zone 9 Umuahia, where upon arrival, he found out that Chibuenyi had lodged a false complaint of ‘threat to life’ against him. This was a scheme to silence him and stop further investigation into the defilement case pending at the local division.
“When Ikechukwu Inyama informed RULAAC about this unfortunate twist in the matter, I contacted the AIG Zone 9, Umuahia and gave him detailed information about what led to the petition against the CSO and requested him to grant him bail and also to order a transfer of the case file from Ezinihitte Police Division to Zone 9, Umuahia which the AIG kindly obliged after making independent findings on the case.
“The AIG Zone 9, Umuahia, based on a formal petition to his office, directed the Crack Team at the Zonal Command to take over investigation, called for a transfer of the case file from Ezinihitte and arrest the 3 rape/defilement suspects as well as investigate the involvement of others in the crime and attempt to compound felony,” Nwanguma revealed.
The RULAAC boss said it is concerning that more than one month after the AIG’s directive, none of the suspects and others involved in attempts to compound felony has been arrested.
He further expressed worry over the reluctance of the Local Police Division to assist the head of the investigation team in arresting the suspects.
“RULAAC is particularly concerned about the fate that this sexual abuse imposes on the girl. The trauma of her experience, the effects on her physical and psychological well-being, and her future.
“We believe that this may not be the first time the culprits would have committed similar heinous acts of sexual violence against women and girls who may not want to speak out because of shame and other cultural inhibitions. Letting them get away with this crime would be to embolden them to remain threats to society.
“Those who throw money around to shield culprits of such heinous crime are not only compounding felony but are also enabling crimes.
“Any member of the victim’s family who succumbs to pressure to ‘settle’ a case of rape and defilement would be culpable for compounding felony.
“Failure by the police to effectively investigate this case with a view to prosecuting the culprits and their enablers will amount to failing an innocent brutalized girl and her poor family and community.
“We call on the Nigeria Police to expedite action to ensure effective investigation, arrest, and prosecution of the suspects and others involved in shielding the suspects and compounding felony in this case,” Nwanguma demanded.
