Ayo Festus, who is a 31-year-old boat operator, has been detained by the Lagos State Police Command, for se.xually molesting and deflowering an SSS one student, known as Lola, in Igbogbo, Ikorodu, Lagos state. He molested the girl while he was working for her guardian at a shop on Solawon Street.
The girl was seen in pains by her guardian, by name Iya Aliyah who asked her of what happened. She revealed that she was taken into a room by the suspect who resides in an apartment where the shop was and defiled her there.
Lola who strongly believed that the suspect has hypnotized her, adding that she had refused his se.xual advances on countless occasions, but couldn’t disclose about the ra.pe to her guardian until a resident prodded her. That was when the case was subsequently taken to the Igbogbo Police Division, leading to the arrest of the man who is a boat operator.
“I go to my guardian’s shop every Saturday to assist her with sales and care of her children. Every time I was alone in the shop, he would pretend that he came to play with the children. He would then start making love advances to me, which I always rejected. I asked him that if I were his younger sister, would he advise me to do such a thing?
“He kept pressurising me and one day, I got fed up and sprayed otapiapia (local insecticide) in his eyes and he left. The following Saturday while I was in the shop, he returned. I asked if what I did to him the last time was not a deterrent enough. I got a knife and threatened to stab him. He said he knew what to do to me.
“The Saturday after that, I was in the shop as usual and was working. I was backing the outside when a hand held me from behind. He was the one. He said what he had been discussing with me all the while, that it was time he did it.
“He took me inside the house, pushed me on the bed and ra.ped me. I was a virgin. I could not tell my guardian because I was afraid of what her reaction could be” the 19-year-old student said.
Lola who revealed this to Punch correspondent that she started seeing her menses immediately after she was being ra.ped, said she did not return home on time due to the several rounds of se.x the suspect had with her.
“I suspect that he hypnotised me. I want the government to teach him the lesson of his life because I am not his first victim; he has destroyed the lives of many other girls like me. We are not in any relationship and I am not his girlfriend,” she added.
Confirming the incident, Lola’s guardian, Iya Aliyah has raised concern over the unprotected se.x the suspect had with Lola, who has been staying with her for over 8 years.
“I started suspecting when I saw her in pain on the bed and I asked what the problem was. She did not tell me. I started abusing her and asked if she wanted to return to her mother in the village.
“I was angry and was about to beat her up when a man intervened and interrogated her. That was when she opened up. From her account of the incident, I was scared the man hypnotised her. I took her to an auxiliary nurse who ran some tests on her and confirmed that she had been deflowered.
“I was advised to take her to a health centre for more tests. We were later introduced to a human rights organisation which asked us to report to the police because the motive of the man is not clear. For him to have had unprotected se.x with her, he could have transmitted any disease to her; that is if he did not have any diabolic intention” she said.
The boat operator who said that the se.x was a mutual thing, saying the victim was his girlfriend and he had a love letter she has written to him as evidence, also said that he was ready to make the ra.pe victim his wife.
“I have spoken to the girl’s mother (guardian) to forgive me. I have sent my landlord and younger brother to her as well. I cannot lie that I did not do it. But how the girl suddenly turned her back against me is what amazes me. She is my girlfriend.
“It was only once that I slept with her. And that was when I deflowered her on Saturday, March 17. It happened in my house and she was not angry. I promised to marry her because I met her as a virgin, which is something rare for a girl of her age. I give her money.
“I did not run away from home as they claimed. I work from Monday to Friday and stay at home on weekends. I see her on Saturdays when she goes to the shop.
“It is a lie that she sprayed insecticide on me or threatened me with a knife. I have a good relationship with her mother (guardian). After I deflowered her, she even bought a wristwatch for me and gave me a love letter. She said she had decided that whoever deflowered her would marry her. And I accepted it” the boat operator said.
