Punch reports:
Fifteen-year-old Mary
Udo has yet to recover fully after being allegedly raped by a police inspector
penultimate Thursday.
However, the Divisional
Police Officer, Mkpat Enin Police Division, on Wednesday, sent pastors and
other police officers to the victim’s family to plead for forgiveness.
Udo was allegedly raped
at gunpoint by the inspector while she was returning from church.
Udo’s uncle, Dr. Ime
Stephen, who made the visit known to our correspondent, said he was surprised
to see the clerics in his home who came to plead on behalf of the police
inspector.
Stephen said the
pastors, who described themselves as senior apostles, begged him to forgive the
inspector, saying the rape case was a big shame not only to the personality of
the inspector, but also to the image of the Nigeria Police Force.
Stephen said he
reminded them he was not the rape victim, while adding that if the clerics and
the police officers had come to see him as the guardian of the victim, he did
not have any right to stop them from such visit.
He said the case was
reported to the DPO and the family had expected the DPO to come personally and
see the victim and apologise to the family given the seriousness of the alleged
crime.
He said, “We sent a
message across to the DPO as the head of that division, telling him what had
happened, and as the head of that division, we had expected him to have come
and apologise, or at least see the victim’s family and the victim, show some
love and respect to the family because of what had happened in his
jurisdiction.
“This is a very serious
thing – police inspector raping a 15-year-old girl at gunpoint. This is more
than robbery. He not only raped the girl, but he also ‘kidnapped’ her for three
days, and collected a ransom of N10,000 as bail. What a shame!”
Stephen said the girl,
apart from undergoing treatment in a hospital, also needed to be rehabilitated
and undergo therapy.
Meanwhile, Udo, a
Senior Secondary School 1 victim said she would never forgive the police
officer for what he did to her, adding that she was still shocked by the
wickedness of the police inspector.
“It was a harrowing
experience. There is nothing on earth that would make me forgive the
inspector,” she said.
The Police Public
Relations Officer in the state, Cordelia Nwawe, in her reaction, said she would
not disclose the identity of the police inspector alleged to have raped Udo.
She said, “I would not
like to give you the name of the police officer, but we are committed to duty
at the headquarters through our Commissioner of Police, Mr. Murtala Mani. He
has waded into the matter.
“Investigation is
ongoing and I’m sure the policeman alleged to have raped the 15-year-old girl
is in custody. When the investigation becomes very conclusive, we will get back
to the press, hopefully by next week.”
No comments:
Post a Comment