Two men suspected to be in their seventies have allegedly raped a fourteen-year-old girl in Akwa Ibom state.
The first suspect said the fourteen-year-old was his wife whom he met in the market and married, he said the girl moved in with him and when he went out, his friend in same age bracket would come in and have sex with the girl.
Both friends feasted on the victim until heated argument ensued between them which made a neighbour to overhear the nature of their argument and decided to report the matter to the police station, and they were arrested.
According to the neighbour who pleaded anonymity, ” I was shocked to overhear two old men arguing over sex about a fourteen-year-old girl. The one that the girl stayed with accused his friend of always sneaking in to sleep with the girl any time he went out. I was worried with that and I decided to report them to the police. But the issue is that some boys who said they are from the area are threatening to deal with me if I don’t withdraw the case from police.”
However, the prime suspect had denied raping the girl but insisted that the girl is his wife, “I did not rape the girl. She is my wife. I saw her in a village market, I talked to her and she agreed to follow me to my house and be my wife. But it was my friend who always come to have sex with her each time I went out.”
The victim it was gathered is already pregnant without knowing the particular man responsible for the pregnancy.
Meanwhile police said they were making efforts to trace the family of the girl adding that the victim has been taken to a home run by the pet project of the wife of the governor, Martha Udom Emmanuel called Family Enhancement and Youths Reorientation Project, FEYReP.
The Police Spokesperson in the state, SP Odiko MacDon told our correspondent that all the cases would be charged to court.
The PPRO who ascribed the case to the level of moral decadence in the society called for attitudinal reorientation and urged people to report perpetrators of such dastardly acts to police.
“Moral Bankruptcy is what is causing all these acts. As a people we need to take morality in society very serious.”
“For us in Akwa Ibom State, we take fight against rape, defilement and Gender base violence serious. Some of the suspects are in our custody, some charged to court, some under investigation while some have been convicted by the court.”
