A 60-year-old bricklayer, Segun Benson, has been accused of raping a
primary six pupil on Mommoh Street in the Agege area of Lagos State.In
the course of the rape, the victim’s private parts were said to have
been damaged.Benson, who has an aged mother, was said to have never been
married, while attempts by his mother to get him a wife had continually
been turned down.After he allegedly ravished the victim, he was said to
have sent her out, despite the flow of blood from her private
parts.Residents were said to have sighted the victim in a public
bathroom writhing in pain.After bleeding from her private parts for a
while, the 14-year-old was said to have collapsed.She reportedly told
concerned residents that Segun tricked her into his room with N50 and
raped her.When PUNCH Metro visited the area on
Wednesday, he met a group of relatives still discussing the incident.A
resident and an eyewitness, who identified herself simply as Iya Egun,
told PUNCH Metro she initially thought the victim was having her
menstrual flow.She said, “I saw her writhing in pain in a bathroom. She
said she wanted to defecate, but I saw blood coming out of her private
parts.“I raised the alarm and when other people arrived at the scene,
she said it was Segun that raped her.”A relative, Okunloye Kehinde, said
the victim’s private parts had been damaged.He said, “I got a call
around 2pm that fateful Saturday. When I got there, I saw a crowd of
people around her. I saw a container filled with blood. Even her clothes
were drenched in blood.”Kehinde said he went with the victim’s father
to report the incident at the Elere Police Division.The police, in
company with some relatives of the victim, arrested the suspect in his
house.Our correspondent spoke with the victim who walked with some
difficulty.She said, “I am in primary six. On Friday, he gave me N50 to
buy sweet for myself. He then asked me to caress his private parts. When
I told him I would tell my daddy, he said I should not go home.“He took
me to his house around Railway Line where he raped me. I was there from
3pm till around 7pm. I started bleeding from his house and when I got
home the blood did not stop. But I kept it secret until Saturday when
people saw it.”Her mother, Taibat, said she had never met the suspect
before.“I have seven kids and she is the third child. I was sleeping
when people called me that my daughter had been raped. I have never met
the man before though he lives on the street. The government should take
over the case and do what is right,” she said.Our correspondent reached
out to the suspect’s mother, Mrs. Tinuke Benson, who is in her
nineties.The woman, while fighting back tears, pleaded with PUNCH Metro
to intervene on her behalf because the suspect was her only son.She
said, “Segun is my only child. I had four other children and they are
all dead. He is the reason for my living. I don’t know why he did what
he did.“Each time I tried to get him a wife, he refused and told me he
was old enough to look for a woman for himself. He said that many times
without getting a wife. Please help me because he’s my hope.”When
contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said the
case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation
Department, Yaba.He said, “The victim has also been taken to the
hospital for necessary tests and the suspect is in custody.”
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