Angry residents of Ikot Ataku and Ikot Abia communities in Eket local government area of Akwa Ibom State are yet to come to terms with a chilly and mind-bugling news of a 14-year-old minor (name withheld), who was kidnapped and raped by a suspected ritualist on her way back from school.
The Junior Secondary School (JSS) pupil of St. Francis Secondary School (SFSS), Ikot Ataku in Eket LGA, an orphan, according to her aunt, Madam Grace Udo, whom she currently stays with after losing both parents, disclosed that the victim has speech impairment and could barely shout, which could have accounted for her inability to raise the alarm for rescue at the time the assailant seized her.
She blamed the heavy rain that fell on that fateful day, combined with her slow speech that drowned whatever alarm she could have mustered the courage to raise, as major factors that prevented kind neighbours from rallying to help.
“Because of her slow speech, I could barely hear what took her that long to return home after school. I had thought initially that she might have been held up by the rain, not knowing she was seized and taken for rape by an unknown criminal she only described as “fair in complexion and averagely tall.”
“At first, I couldn’t understand her very well. It was after then that I discovered the girl was raped and has serious wound on her private part because she couldn’t sit well.
“When she narrated her ordeal, I couldn’t bear it, hence I went to find out. I had to strain my ears to understand that a man, fair in completion carried her on his shoulder, and entered the nearby bush, and raped her repeatedly.
“When I asked if she knew and had met the person before, she responded that she doesn’t know him but can identify him if seen anywhere,” Grace explained.
The incident was reported at Eket Police Division by one, Mrs. Endurance Etim Robert, and the victim was referred to Immanuel Hospital, Eket town, for emergency treatment, but with no medical attention because of funds.
It was gathered that the girl was later attended to by the medics at the special trauma section of the hospital – Agape Centre (AC), specifically designed for such emergencies.
According to the manager of the Agape Center, Mrs. Mfonkan Ukemeabasi Henry, who admitted the girl before being directed to the doctor, “the victim’s private part has been seriously damaged, bruised and expanded as if she just gave birth,” stressing the need to “conduct several medical examinations including pregnancy, HIV and other tests.”
Calling on the Police to conduct relevant investigations to fish out the culprit with a view to extracting justice for the heinous crime, the aunt recalled that she took custody of the victim at the death of her parents to stay in her house at Ikot Abia village in Eket LGA, where she traversed the community road to school at the neighbouring Ikot Ataku.
Urging the government and other concerned non-state actors, including the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), to come into the matter, she wondered why a man could be that wicked to rape an underage girl, cashing in on her predicament.
Asuquo Issac Atta, one of the angry local residents of Ikot Ataku, called for a vigilant cordon around the vicinity, perhaps the assailant could still be lurking around for more prey along the lonely and isolated community road.
