The Enugu State Police Command says it has arrested and charged two suspects to court in connection with the alleged defilement of a seven-year old girl (name not given) within the Enugu metropolis.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Daniel Ndukwe, made the disclosure in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu on Tuesday.
The statement indicated that a 25-year-old suspect (name not disclosed) who is from Akwa Ibom State, as well as the grandmother to the victim, who was an accomplice to the crime, were being investigated.
It read that the suspects were on June 22, charged to court and remanded at the Enugu Custodial Centre pending further hearing of the case.
“This development followed the swift intervention of the Command, re-arresting of the suspects and conclusion of preliminary investigation into the case,’’ the statement read.
According to it, the prime suspect, residing at Ugwuabor Abakpa-Nike, Enugu, was alleged to have on June 13, had unlawful carnal knowledge of the victim with the alleged permission of the victim’s grandmother.
The suspect and his accomplice were reported to have been arrested initially by the Neighbourhood Watch Group before being re-arrested on June 16 by operatives of the Command attached to the Abakpa Police Division.
The statement added, “The victim’s grandmother, 61, a native of Imezi-Owa in Ezeagu Local Government Area, residing in the same address, was said to have been in the habit of exploiting the minor for financial gains.
“This is by giving her seven-year-old granddaughter out to men for unlawful carnal knowledge. With the suspects’ re-arrest, the victim was rescued and handed over to the Enugu State Ministry of Gender Affairs and Social Department for safe custody.
“The case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for thorough investigation and prosecution of the suspects on the order of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohammed Aliyu.”
