by crossriverwatch admin
A thirty year old man, whose name was simply given as Rowland is now in police custody in Calabar while awaiting trial for allegedly raping a thirteen year old girl, Miss Mary (surname withheld) over the weekend.
The distraught girl who reported the incident to the police at Akim Police Division which effected the arrest of Rowland, said she was returning from extramural lesson on Friday, 22nd March when she met Rowland who subsequently took her to his house and raped her all-night.
“I was coming back from extramural lesson and the road was very dark because NEPA took light as rain was threatening to fall and I was afraid of walking the road alone and I had to wait in a nearby shop and while there I saw Rowland who lives close to our house and I told him I was afraid of going back home alone and he assured me he would escort me home and after he bought what he wanted to buy, we set out together towards home”.
She said while on their way home, Rowland who lives at 26 Barracks Road, some houses before the 31 Barracks Road where Mary lives, said he wanted to call in his place to pick an umbrella in the event that the rain that is threatening falls. “So since it was very dark on the road, he asked me to come to the house and wait while he gets the umbrella and we got to his house, I waited at the door for him to get the umbrella but suddenly he came out and grabbed me and flung me inside his room and shut the door”.
Mary who schools at Government Secondary School, Akim, said she shouted and screamed but the “man over powered me and used his palm to gag me and sprayed something on me and I became too weak and he raped me several times until I became unconscious”.
Mary said the rapist kept her in his room till the next day “It was on Saturday morning that I found myself at the staircase to our apartment when neighbors gathered round and woke me to find out why I slept at the steps”.
It was then she remembered the events of the previous night and went to the police to report. But when the police went after Rowland, he was nowhere to be found. It was on Sunday morning that the police were able to locate Rowland who said he spent the previous day, Saturday at a wedding ceremony where he functioned as a video camera man.
“I was called by my friend Nse who had his wedding on Saturday that his camera man had been arrested that I should get to Akim Police Division to help him secure bail and when I got there, I discovered that the man was arrested for rape, and I am against such acts and rather told the police to charge him to court”. Barrister James Ibor of Basic Rights Counsel Initiative told crossriverwatch.
He said friends of the accused, have testified that the “fellow is addicted to raping young girls. It is better to put such a person where he belongs- the prison so that his character could be reformed” Barrister Ibor said
DSP John Umoh, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Cross River State Police Command said the man would soon be charged to Family Court so that the “Victim can go there and testify against him since that court sits in camera”.
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