A police officer identified as Inspector Nathaniel Iliya, attached to the Nasarawa State Police Command, has reportedly raped and impregnated his 15-year-old niece who lives with him.
The State Chairman of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, Mrs Rabiatu Addra revealed this during a press briefing in Lafia, the state capital on Wednesday.
According to the chairperson of FIDA, the suspect was arrested after a the case was reported to them.
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She, however, said that there will be a follow up on the case to ensure that the suspect is prosecuted.
“On receipt of the information by the whistleblower, FIDA in conjunction with the Sexual and Gender Based Violence Response team, facilitated and mobilised police officers to get the suspect arrested”. She said
“Our team with the police took the victim to the hospital and paid for her treatment but unfortunately she lost the six-month-old baby. The state ministry of Justice further paid the bill for a DNA test as part of the ongoing investigation to ascertain the real culprit.”
Mrs Rabiatu Addra, however, said that the victim has been discharged from the hospital and reunited with her family.
“The team is always ready and prepared to promote, protect and serve the rights of women and children. We are appealing to victims of abuse to always have the confidence to speak out so that we can render the necessary support to them,” she said.
According to the victim, Blessing, who is a JSS 3 student of GSS Bukan Sidi, Lafia, “her uncle by name Inspector Nathaniel Iliya who hails from Adamawa State went to her mother who is a widow and doing menial jobs to sustain herself in Gada Biyu, Jos, Plateau State and requested that she be released to come and live with him because his wife just put to bed through Caesarean section. On his part, he promised to take care of her feeding, clothing and schooling.
“After just about a year of staying with them, the uncle who is a serving police officer started coming home with half a bottle of soft drinks which he gives to her almost every evening. One of the times he puts a substance in the drink. After she took it, she slept off only to wake up the next morning to pains and the sight of blood in her private part and clothes, a clear sign that she was disvirgined.
“These experiences continued for some time. Later on, Mr. Nathaniel does not bother to drug her again but rapes her when she was conscious. After every experience, he threatens that if she dares leak the information, he will kill her. Before she knew it, pregnancy came on. She became afraid of telling the uncle’s wife but informed the neighbours who were afraid of the uncle because he is a police officer.
“She said that she was taken somewhere and given some drugs to take. As on Wednesday when we met, she was practically smelling. We took her to the police who arrested the uncle, and the wife and the son who all played roles in attempting to terminate the pregnancy.
“She was later taken to the hospital where she underwent a scan and it was confirmed that the six months old fetus was already dead due to the drugs that she was made to take. An immediate evacuation took place. The blood samples of the fetus and that of the uncle were taken for DNA test.
“We are afraid the police may want to help one of their own. We want members of the public to help prevail on the Commissioner of Police Nassarawa State to ensure justice is done in this case.
“After reporting to the police, I also alerted FIDA in Nasarawa State and they showed up and were very helpful as we joined forces to ensure the police do the needful. They particularly shouldered the hospital expenses so far while Blessing is still on admission in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
“We were at the office of the Commissioner of Police on Wednesday by his invitation. He informed us that he is under pressure from some officials of Nasarawa State Government to release the suspect.
“Meanwhile, about N246, 000 has been spent on taking the DNA samples and results are due in two weeks’ time.
“The widow-mother of this girl (Blessing) came to town (Lafia) on Wednesday and almost cried her eyes out. Both her and the mother are depressed by this incident,” he revealed.
