An 18-year-old girl, yesterday, told a Special and Sexual Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, how her biological father, Folorunsho Oluwaseun, told her he will suck her breasts to make them as big as her mates, and then ended up having sexual intercourse with her for four years.
The victim is the first prosecution witness in an ongoing trial involving her father and Lagos State before Justice Sybil Nwaka. Led in evidence by the prosecuting counsel, Babajide Boye, she informed the court that the father started abusing her sexually right from when she was 12 years old, at their Ikorodu home in Lagos.
Her story: “My four siblings (two boys and two girls) and I were staying with my father in a room apartment.” She said the abuse started when her father called her and said her breast were not as big as that of her mates and that he would help her suck them with his mouth so that they could get bigger like that of her mates.
According to her, “I was in JSS 3 when he started. He asked me to sleep with him on the bed and he began to suck my breasts. The following day, I told my younger sister about the incident and she condemned it. “
The following week, he told me that I am not as fat as my mates and that he would pour sperm inside me so that I can be as fat. I allowed him have sex with me and thereafter, he gave me salt water to drink.” The victim further told the court that her mother left her father’s house in 2012, as they were always having misunderstanding. She said her father continued to abuse her sexually and when she told her younger sister about the sexual aspect, she said it is a curse and that the bible condemns it.
She claimed that “I said same to my dad, but he said it is not a curse because God knows that he does not have a wife. I attempted to stop him, but he denied me and my siblings food for days until I gave in again. “He said if he continues to have sex with me, he will keep getting money to take care of us. My mum came but left again after about a month. “
He stopped when she was around and started again when she left. I didn’t tell my mum because he said I should not tell her.
“We usually go to the Apostolic Church camp every year and he told me that his sister reported him to his mum and rather than rebuking him, she told him not to get me pregnant. I told my sister and she said my dad’s family don’t like us at all. “In 2016, my mother came back to stay with us and caught us one night, when my father was trying to have sex with me. She screamed and my father threatened to kill her.
The girl also informed the court that thereafter, her mother took her and her siblings to Ibadan, where she was formerly residing. She continued: “I was teaching in a small school in Ibadan and we used to call him to send us money, but he will say he won’t until we come back to Ikorodu and I didn’t want to go back.
“So I went to the proprietress of the school where I teach in Ibadan, asking for salary increment, that the money was too small for all of us to live on. She asked of my dad and I told her everything I went through in the hands of my father.
“She said she knows someone who can help me at Justice Development Peace Commission at Basorun, Ibadan. I told them all that happened and they said they will help me, but that I have to come to Lagos and they gave us a number to call at Alausa, Ikeja. “I was referred to Mirabel Centre to run a test.
After the test, we went back to the Police and we later went to arrest my father in Ikorodu.” While being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Woreer Oduagbaka, the victim maintained that she was living in a room apartment, but a room was later added to it, making a room and parlour.
The victim’s mother also gave her evidence before the court, giving her reasons for leaving her husband in the first place, saying he accused her of spiritually impending his progress. She said she had no choice but to leave his house for Ibadan, where she began selling food stuffs and sending her sister to give her children gifts occasionally, because their father would not let her contact them directly.
She also told the court that she was unaware of everything that happened to her daughter as she never confided in her, until she caught the father in the act and left with her kids after he refused to accept or show any form of repentance.
The 52-year-old defendant, Folorunso Oluwaseun, was arraigned for defiling a minor in February on a two-count charge bordering on sexual assault. Justice Nwaka adjourned the case till June 21 for continuation of trial.
-Nationalhelm
