Police in Lagos have arrested a 78-year-old man,
Alhaji Dauda Adebowale, for allegedly raping an 11-
year-old girl, Remilekun (not her real name).
The incident was said to have happened in Pen
Cinema, in the Agege area of the state.
It was learnt that some time in June 2015, Remilekun
was passing by a shop where the old man lived
alone when he called to send her on an errand.
When she returned, he was said to have dragged her
into the shop and raped her, threatening to kill her if
she told the act to anyone.
He was said to be living alone in the shop. It
was gathered that Adebowale raped her on several
occasions after the first time because he had
threatened her with death if she told any one.
However, trouble started for the suspect on Sunday,
August 2, when Remilekun, who was reportedly
sleeping beside her mother in the afternoon of the
fateful day, suddenly woke up, shouting ‘penis, penis’
to the bewilerment of the mother.
The woman, who did not want her name in print, said
haggard-looking Remilekun opened up to her after
she pestered her.
She said:
“On that Sunday, I was ill and was sleeping. She
also slept beside me. She suddenly cried out,
shouting, ‘penis, penis, penis’. I was shocked.
When I asked her what happened, she said it was
a man on our street that had been having sex
with her.
“I followed her to the man’s house. Some boys
confronted him and he confessed to them. I then
reported him at the Area G Police Command in
Ogba and he was arrested. I took my daughter to
a hospital for tests because she has become
lean. The medical result showed that her vagina
had been tampered with and I have given it to
the police.”
The victim, a primary 2 pupil, who spoke in Yoruba,
said she had lost count of the number of times
the old man had raped her but that she had gotten
fed up and called his bluff.
She said:
“I was passing by a shop on our street one
Saturday afternoon when he called me. He was
sitting outside the shop and told me to help him
bring a document inside the shop. I was about to
leave after I gave him the document when he
dragged me inside and locked the door.
“He covered my mouth and raped me. He
threatened to kill me if I told anybody. The
following day, he called me again and repeated
the same thing. I can’t remember how many
times he had sex with me. Whenever I told him I
would tell my mother, he would say I was playing
with my life.
“When I could no longer bear it, I opened up to a
woman in our area and she promised that she
would make sure the man was evicted from the
shop.
“It was few days after that my mother said she
heard me shout ‘penis’ while I was asleep.”
Remilekun’s sister, Tokunbo (not her real name) said
she had narrowly escaped being trapped by the
suspect not knowing that her younger sister had
fallen victim.
She said:
“He called me two weeks ago and told me that he
liked me. He promised to take care of me if I
cooperated.
“I said I did not understand and managed to run
away. I told my mother when I got home and she
warned me to stay off his reach.”
The suspect was arraigned before an Ikeja
Magistrates’ Court on three counts bordering on
rape.
The charges read in part, “That you, Alhaji Dauda
Adebowale, 78, sometime in 2015, at a shop in Pen
Cinema, Agege, Lagos, in the Ikeja Magisterial
District, did have sexual intercourse with one 11-
year-old girl.
“That you, within the same period and place in the
aforementioned magisterial district, did sexually
assault one 11-year-old girl.”
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the
charges which, according to the police, contravene
sections 137, 166 and 257 of the Criminal Law II, Vol.
44 of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
The presiding magistrate, Mr. T. Elias, granted the
defendant bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties
each in like sum.
The matter was adjourned till September 2, 2015,
Elias ordered that the man be kept in prison custody
pending the time he would be able to perfect his bail.
Punch
