MAMATI, a five-year-old girl, (real name concealed to protect the victim from societal stigma), was drugged and raped by her 38-year-old neighbor at Paparanda, Anguwar Hardo in Bauchi LGA of Bauchi State.
“On the 16th day of July 2020, I sent my little daughter (Mamati ) to go and buy Spaghetti at about 7:00 am but she didn’t return on time”, her mother told a human rights group, Prison Inmate Development Initiative in Bauchi State.
WikkiTimes reports that the perpetrator is not only a member of the vigilante group; he is also the Chairman of the group at Paparanda, a suburb of Bauchi metropolis.
The mother said the suspect, Saleh Hassan (Shoe Shiner); a vigilante member (popularly called Yan Kwamiti) drugged her daughter, by giving some tablets “on her way home”, from where she was sent for shopping.
The victim’s mother said her daughter drowsy and slept off upon taken the drugs. “So when she woke up, my daughter said he (the culprit) showed her a knife and said if she tells anybody, she will be killed.
“While she was coming, I noticed that she was leaping, I asked her where she has been and what was wrong with her but she said nothing,” added Sureya, the victim’s mother.
She said the terrible experience forced her daughter into dreadful cries because of her inability to walk following the pains inflicted on her by her predator.
“The next day, in the morning, my daughter was crying and couldn’t walk again.”
The victim’s mother said there were several bruises in her private part; “however, when I insisted on knowing the suspect, my daughter said she was raped by one, uncle Saleh.”
The Executive Director of PIDI-Nigeria, Mrs. Cate Rize who facilitated the arrest of the perpetrator in a statement, says, “the victim alleged that she was raped by one, uncle Saleh, saying that ‘when she got the spaghetti, on her way coming home, he called her and asked to take one medicine. “She said it was after she took the medicine that she slept off, so when she woke up, she said he showed her a knife and said if she tells anybody, she will be killed.”
PIDI said a gynaecologist at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital in Bauchi has confirmed “a forceful penetration in her private part.”
“PIDI-Nigeria regretted that the minor has been rendered helpless and hopeless, calling on the Police to immediately prosecute the suspected rapist.
The Bauchi State Police Command through its Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Ahmed Wakili confirmed arresting the suspect “who is now in Police detention pending the completion of the investigation and possible prosecution.”
The ICIR had in an exhaustive investigation revealed that about 300 cases of rapes were reported within just 6 months in Bauchi State; with most of the culprits moving around freely while their victims languished in perpetual pains and misery.
The investigation also documented how the application of western and Islamic laws simultaneously give room for suspected rapists to evade justice, in connivance with a government agency that is supposedly meant to protect the victims.
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