New Telegraph

Raped, blackmailed, 20-year-old lady attempts suicide

Suspect threatens to post rape video on social media

A distraught father, simply identified as Femi, has narrated how his 20-year-old daughter attempted to commit suicide by mixing Hypo and detergent with the intention of drinking it. According to Femi, family members had unwittingly entered the girl’s room and found out that she was attempting to take her life. When asked the reason for attempting to take her life, she broke down, weeping profusely. One of her siblings collected her phone, unlocked it and saw a series of threatening messages from a man identified as Arinze, living in the same community at Iba with them. It was discovered from the threats that Arinze had allegedly raped the victim, video-recorded it and then asked her to pay him some money or he would upload it on social media.

It is also believed that Arinze drugged the victim before raping her. Police detectives attached to Iba Police Station, Lagos State, have, however, arrested the 23-year-old Arinze for allegedly raping the victim, video recorded it and tried to use it as a weapon of blackmail.

The victim’s father took the matter to Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network (ACVPN), demanding justice. Femi said Arinze raped his daughter on July 13. The distraught father explained that on the fateful day, Arinze brought the girl home under the disguise that he saw her staggering and decided to assist her home. He said: “The next day I was called from my office that my daughter fainted and was rushed to hospital, where a doctor confirmed she was anaemic and required two pints of blood. I eventually spent N30,000. “But on July 19, after our morning prayer, I heard one of my daughters screaming. We rushed to my daughter’s room and discovered she had mixed Hypo and detergent, attempting to take her life.

We tried to calm her down, but she kept saying she wanted to die. “After much pleading, we opened her phone and saw Arinze’s message demanding a huge amount of money to be transferred into his account or he would post on social media the recorded scene where he was abusing her.

“On the night Arinze brought my daughter home, we observed she had marks of injury all over her body. But she wouldn’t talk to anyone about it until the attempted suicide incident.” New Telegraph learnt that the matter was reported at Iba Police Station. When the police went to arrest Arinze, they discovered he was not at home. But they met his father, who promised to bring him to the police station. But rather than bring Arinze to the station, the father attempted to settle the matter with the victim’s family. Arinze was eventually arrested.

The Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in charge of the case, while preparing her charge sheet, charged Arinze with blackmail and extortion. She had to be corrected by members of the ACVPN. It was discovered that the IPO preferred to prepare the charge based on Arinze’s testimony, who claimed he was in a relationship with the victim and that whatever happened, was consensual. The charge sheet was duly amended with the inclusion of the Section 137 of the Lagos State Criminal Code.

The ACVPN Secretary, Mr. Ebenezer Omejalile, said the IPO was asked if a genuine boyfriend would physically abuse his girlfriend, rape and then demand her Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card so that he could withdraw her the entire money from her account. He said: “Eventually, when it was presented before the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of the division, he instructed that the case be transferred to the Gender Unit of the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba. “Prior to the DPO’s instruction, the perpetrator had been boasting that he would deal decisively with the survivor’s father. It clearly shows the perpetrator doesn’t know the consequences and gravity of his actions.”

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