17-year-old Roda Timothy, was full of expectations when she left her
home state in Plateau for Lagos, last year. She had hoped to secure
employment, earn a decent living and be in a position to
help
her family back home.However, her lofty dreams were shattered barely
few days after she was employed as a maid. She was allegedly raped and
impregnated by her Lebanese boss who later kicked her out of his house
when all his efforts to abort the pregnancy failed.Her boss popularly
called Hussein, works as a professional chef for highbrow companies in Lagos
and
resides on Allen Avenue, Ikeja agreed to pay Roda N10, 000 monthly. Two
months after impregnating her, Hussein sacked her after paying her a
paltry sum of N19,000 for the two months she worked for him.Roda who
pleaded passionately that her photograph should not be taken then
narrated how it all happened: “I started working with the man as a maid
immediately I came to Lagos. He agreed to pay me N10,000 monthly as my
salary. When I packed into the house, my boss was not around but he came
back two days later from his work place.
How I was raped
“On this
particular day, my boss was about to leave the house when his brother
asked me to go and meet him and collect some money to purchase food
items for the house. I knocked on his door, he answered and asked me to
come inside. When I entered, I told him that his brother asked me to
collect money to purchase food items. He said okay and got up from where
he was sitting, and pretended as if he wanted to get the money before
he grabbed me forcefully. I struggled with him and was shouting but he
over powered me and raped me.
Second round of rape “The
following month when I discovered that I had missed my monthly circle, I
informed him about it but instead of finding solution to it, he raped
me a second time. I then kept disturbing him about the growing
pregnancy. What he did was to send me to a nearby chemist with a
prescription but the attendant refused to attend to me without his
presence. He later went with me and bought some drugs which he asked me
to take to abort the pregnancy. I took the drugs but nothing happened.
After some days, he bought another set of drugs which I took, yet,
nothing happened.I then became very worried and was disturbing him to
find a solution to the problem he caused. That was when he started
threatening me and later sacked me after paying me N19,000.I was so
afraid that when I went back to my brother who brought me to Lagos, I
didn’t tell him that I was pregnant for my boss. I was just praying that
the pregnancy will just disappear but it did not. Unknown to my brother
that I was pregnant, he got me another job where I worked for four
months as a maid before my new employer discovered that I was pregnant
and told my brother.”Her brother speaks“Roda’s brother, Joshua also
narrated his story to Crime Guard. According to him: “It was January
this year that we discovered she was pregnant. Her stomach was still
flat and we had to take her for scan. It was then she revealed that her
former boss,Hussein, was responsible for her pregnancy. So, we went to
Hussein’s house to confront him but he denied being responsible for the
pregnancy. We therefore reported the case to the Immigration Department
in Ikeja and on February 9, 2016, he was arrested but was later
released.“From immigration department, my sister was taken to the
National Agency For The Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP.
Initially, officials of NAPTIP said she would be with them until she
delivers but last week, officials of the agency came and asked me to
come and take my sister back as she will soon deliver. The pressure and
threats from NAPTIP became too much to the extent that I don’t know
whether they are protecting the interest of my sister who was abused by a
foreigner or that of the foreigner”.Joshua lamented the atrocities
perpetrated by some expatriates resident in Nigeria, saying “ these
atrocities continue unabated because the government and relevant
authorities ignore the plight of helpless victims who are at their
mercy,”he stated.When Crime Guard visited the residence of the Lebanese,
Mr Hussein in Ikeja, he was not around but a lady in the house promised
to inform him about our visit and get back to us.
Promise by Hussein’s nephew
The
next morning, one Mr Hassan called claiming to be the nephew of Mr
Hussein Ali. He said his sister informed him of our visit to his
residence the previous day. According to him, whatever happened between
his Hussein and Roda was a mistake and that they were doing everything
within to resolve the issue while Hussein has agreed to take care of
Roda until she gives birth. He however added that a DNA will be carried
out to determine the paternity of the baby but the family will not
refuse to take responsibility. “We are doing everything to ensure she
delivers safely,” he added.
NAPTIP remains elusive
Crime Guard
reports that when they visited Ikeja Zonal office of the National Agency
for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Director
was said to have traveled out of Lagos on official duty.A lady who
claims to be the Public Relations Officer of the Agency informed Crime
Guard that the Zonal director was the only authorized officer who can
speak with the press on the issue. She then collected phone contacts and
promised to arrange a meeting with the director once he gets back. But
she didn’t get back till date. Further efforts made to contact her
proved abortive.
No comments:
Post a Comment