BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A three-year-old girl, Little Becca (not real name), has been hospitalised after a 24-year-old electrician, Nasirudeen Afeez, allegedly defiled and raped her inside a toilet.
The victim was said to have been traumatized after the father of one took advantage of her by having her carnal knowledge forcefully.
It was gathered that Afeez had wandered in the area before sighting the girl at the front of her house, took her inside the toilet and allegedly raped her.
The mother of the girl, who did not want to be named, told The Point that she had gone to buy noodles to cook for the girl but she returned to see her daughter bleeding from her private part while being led out of the toilet by the suspect.
“I had brought out some clothes to wash and my daughter said she was hungry. I immediately went to a provision shop beside my house to get spaghetti to cook for her. I asked my daughter to stay at the front of the house and a minute after, I returned to discover that my daughter was no longer where I left her.
“I saw her coming out of the toilet with a man who was later identified as Afeez. I started screaming and some of my neighbours came out and held him. He later escaped and jumped into a river in our area but he was later recaptured. He assaulted one of the men who caught him inside the river before the police arrested him,” the victim’s mother narrated.
The incident was reported to a human rights activist, Citizen Lola Wey.
Wey said, “Immediately I was informed of the ugly incident, I alerted the police and operatives of the Amotekun Corps. The suspect was arrested while the girl was taken to hospital for treatment. I thank the police and Amotekun for their prompt actions.”
Meanwhile, after investigation, the police dragged Afeez before a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Osogbo for offence of rape and assault.
“That you Nasirudeen Afeez, on the 7th day of October 2023 at about 9:00am at Sabo area, Osogbo, Osun State, in the Osogbo Magisterial District, did unlawfully rape one Little Becca (not real name), aged 3 years and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 2(2) of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law of Osun State 2021.
“You did unlawfully take undue advantage of your neighbour’s daughter, one Little Becca, aged 3 years and sexually exploited her and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 32 of the Child’s Rights Laws of Osun State 2007,” two of the charges read.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Fatoba Temitope, noted that Afeez unlawfully and indecently assaulted the girl, adding, “Afeez did with intent to kill, unlawfully hit one Abdulazeez Sulaiman with a cutlass on his head and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 320 of the Criminal Code Cap 34 Vol. II Laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2002.”
Afeez pleaded not guilty to all the allegations. He was represented in court by a lawyer, Najite Okobe.
Chief Magistrate Olusegun Ayilara ordered that the prosecution should forward the case file to the Department of Public Prosecution, Ministry of Justice for legal advice.
Ayilara remanded the defendant to the correctional centre and adjourned the matter till November 27, 2023 for mention.
