The police in Osun State have arrested a security guard, Imran Olalekan, for allegedly raping a 17-year-old female Senior Secondary School student (name withheld) of a public school in the state.
24-year-old Olalekan, a member of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, attached to Saint Charles High School, Osogbo, was said to have forcibly had carnal knowledge of the girl in the security office of the school.
It was gathered that the suspect, after gagging and raping the victim, threatened to kill her if she narrated her ordeal to anyone.
But the female student rebuffed Olalekan’s threat and narrated how the suspect raped her in the morning, after she had arrived at the school early.
Explaining further, the victim said, “I was in school early with my friend. Mr. Olalekan made sign that one of us should come. Initially, I didn’t know I was being called. But he pointed at me and I went to him. He grabbed my dress. I wore a shirt on my school uniform and because of that Olalekan threatened to punish me.
“I immediately knelt down and started begging him. He then pushed me inside their office. Because it was still early, no student was near the office. He asked me if I was a virgin or I owned a mobile. I told him I didn’t have a phone.
“Despite pleading with him to let me go, he pulled my skirt and blocked my mouth with his hands and raped me. When he finished, he warned that if I tell anyone, I would die.
“When he left me eventually, I went home and told my parent what had happened. I am not his girlfriend. He raped me and nearly all of them (Peace Corps men) working in our school used to sleep with students. Though some girls befriend Peace Corp people without being forced.”
Responding to questions from newsmen, Olalekan said he was not a full member of the Peace Corps yet but added that he was posted to the school to understudy the PCN members deployed in the school.
Though he initially denied raping the victim, claiming he only fondled her, he later admitted sleeping with her but claimed not to have forced her into the act.
Olalekan said, “When I called her, I told her I love her and she didn’t talk. I slept with her but I didn’t force her. She is not my girlfriend. This is the first time this would happen.”
Speaking with newsmen, the Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, Folasade Odoro, said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect had intercourse with the victim.
Odoro, a deputy superintendent of police, added that the suspect would be taken to court as soon as investigation into the alleged crime was concluded.
