My Husband No Longer Have Erection, He Can’t R*pe – R*pe Suspect’s Wife

Trouble started in the home of Mrs. Grace Adebiyi (not

real name) in Akowonjo area of Lagos when she noticed a

strange discharge from the private part of her eight-year-

old daughter, as she slept on the night of Sunday April 12,

2015.

“I would not have been worried if not because that I had

noticed she was walking awkwardly when we were going

to church earlier in the day. But when I asked what was

wrong with her, she said nothing,” the woman said.

But that night, as Comfort (not real name) slept, her

mother decided to investigate what was wrong.

“It was then I noticed my daughter’s private part was

chafed. I was worried, what could have happened to

her?”Adebiyi said.

The worried mother roused her daughter and asked her

what had been happening to her but the girl told her

nothing happened.

Adebiyi said, “I told her to go back to sleep but my mind

was not at rest. The following morning. I asked her again

if anybody had been manipulation her and if that was

what caused the way she was chafed and could not walk

properly. She told me nothing of such happened.

“I then threatened to take her to the police station.

That was when she told me that she could only tell me if I

would not beat her and if I would not confront the person

who did it. When she told me, I nearly collapsed.”

The name the little girl mentioned was that of their 45-

year-old tenant, Victor Aneke. Before the incident, Mrs.

Adebiyi and the Anekes, who had been living in the house

since 1999, had been having a running battle over unpaid

rent.

Victor actually admitted to our correspondent that he

owed at least N200,000 in rent backlog. Also, Mrs. Adebiyi

said when she noticed that her daughter was too frequent

in her tenant’s apartment, she warned her to stop going

there.

“But I was not worried about sexual abuse because I knew

the man’s wife was around,” she said.

The house is a kind commonly called ‘face-me-I-face-you’

in Lagos. One of the apartments in the building is used by

Mrs. Adebiyi and her children. Her husband has been

away on a long trip for many months.

The woman said she did not know what to do, as she was

afraid of confronting her tenant about such a allegation all

alone.

She notified child rights activists. When a test was

conducted on the girl, a doctor at the Lagos State

University Teaching Hospital’s Sexual Assault Referral

Centre in Ikeja said that the girl had been raped a number

of times.

Our correspondent, with child rights activist, Esther Ogwu,

in tow, later paid the Anekes a visit in the course of the

week.

After a warm welcome, Victor and his wife launched into a

narration about how their landlady had been making their

lives unbearable over their outstanding rent.

Victor said he only loves children and thus allowed

Comfort to sleep and watch cartoons in his apartment.

Asked why he would allow the child stay in his apartment

for extended periods of time even though he was not in

good terms with the girl’s mother, Victor said other

children also come to his apartment to play.

Victor said, “The woman always quarrels with me because

she wants me out of her house but her husband is a friend

and he told her to leave me alone.

“Telling her daughter to accuse me of molesting her was

her latest ploy to send me out of this house. I have never

touched the girl because she is like a daughter to me.”

While Victor spoke, his fuming wife, Joy, pleaded to have a

say during the interview. The woman was angry that her

husband could be accused of such “dirty crime”.

“How can she ask her daughter to lie against my husband

just because she want us out of this house?”

she said. “Let me tell you the truth, since my husband had

an accident in March 2013, he has not had an Attention.”

Her husband nodded as she made the revelation.

However, later, when our correspondent went out and was

alone with Victor, he said “I will treat you well if this

report could be written to show how innocent I am.”

Ogwu said the defence Joy put up for her husband was not

tenable.

“She probably knows that her husband did it but and

would rather protect him against the law.

“We may not be a law court that would judge him, but we

will pursue this case to as far as needed to prove that the

victim was not lying. We have interviewed her and we

have no doubt that she is telling the truth.”

The case has been reported at the Ipaja Police Division.

Victor who was initially arrested was released on bail on

medical grounds.

The police spokesperson, Mr. Kenneth Nwosu has said that

investigation is still ongoing in the case and the suspect

would be charged to court as soon as findings are

complete.