BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
Two vigilante members of Obodechi Nnodo community, Ebonyi Local Government of Ebonyi State, Ifeanyi Nwamini and Hyacinth Nwigwe, have been accused of kidnapping two girls and raping them in turn.
The victims, who are natives of the community narrated their ordeals in the hands of the local security guards to a court, Family Law Center, Abakaliki and sought for justice.
The teenage sisters (names withheld), aged 14 and 15, while addressing the family court, disclosed that Nwamini and Nwigwe abducted them from their compound on July 22, 2023, around 8:00pm while they were receiving fresh air under a tree and waiting for the return of other members of their family from the day’s engagements.
According to the girls, the vigilante members allegedly invaded the compound while they were watching movie from their mobile phone and forcefully dragged them to an abandoned government building known as Nnodo Development Center Headquarters, locked them up in separate rooms despite all pleas and gang-raped the older victim.
Narrating her ugly experience, the 15-year-old girl explained, “We dropped out of JSS 2 class because our parents could no longer afford our school fees. We are currently living with our uncle and his family. We work for people as sales girls and get paid so that we can gather money and register for skills acquisition programmes.
“On the 22nd day of July, 2023, at about 8:00pm, when I and my sister came back from our sales girls’ work, I was half naked tying wrapper on my chest while my sister was just wearing bum shorts and singlet. We were alone in the compound with our aunt who was in the bathroom when the incident happened.”
Stating how they were mercilessly beaten by the suspects, the victim noted, “Suddenly, two vigilante members, Ifeanyi Nwamini and Hyacinth Nwigwe, came into our compound and forcefully took us to Nnodo Development Center Headquarters and locked us up in separate rooms.They beat us mercilessly because I hesitated to follow them. I pleaded to put on cloth but they refused. We don’t know our crime even till now.
“After some hours in the dark and mosquitoes infested cold room, they came and said I should pay them a fine of N30,000 or risk being raped by the both of them. They also threatened to kill and dump my body in a nearby toilet pit. When I asked what my offence was, they beat me, forcefully tore my wrapper and pant and satisfied their sexual urges on me in turns.”
“Nobody could hear us cry because the location of the abandoned building is far from people’s homes. At dawn, they brought us out and gave us cutlasses to clear grass. In the process of doing that, we escaped and reported to our family,” she added.
In her narration during an interview with The Point, the younger victim confirmed that she was not raped but that their abductors molested her sexually by touching her body while they were dragging them out of the compound.
She said she heard her sister crying all through the night while being gang-raped by the vigilante members.
The Point gathered that the suspects had been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and that they were in the custody of the Command in Abakaliki.
Reacting, the father of the teenage victims, Simon Igboke, expressed sadness at the ugly experience the girls allegedly went through in the hands of the vigilante members and pleaded with the management of the resolution center to make the suspects face the full weight of the law to serve as deterrent to others.
He said, “I have not been humiliated this way in my life. I am so pained. The vigilante members raped my children because they know I don’t have money. They (suspects) are currently in civil defence office but I brought the matter to the family court so that this center which is known for speaking for the voiceless will ensure my children get justice.”
Responding to the reported matter, Chairman of the resolution center, Family Law Center Abakaliki, Elizabeth Nwali, assured that the center would follow up the matter to a logical conclusion in accordance with its mandate.
