A popular businessman
in Ogoja, northern Cross River State, southsouth Nigeria, has been arrested for
allegedly raping a two-year old girl (name withheld).
The man, Mr. James
Eze, was detained by the police after he was arrested for allegedly having
carnal knowledge of the child.
Eze, who owns a well
known pharmacy, Edoh Pharmacy located on I, Mission Road, Igoli Ogoja,
allegedly lured the girl into his office where he defiled her and thereafter
gave her N25 to buy sweets.
Eze was alleged to
have defiled the girl for ritual purposes as he “collected the blood that
gushed from the girl’s private part with a white handkerchief. The handkerchief
is now with the police,” Codelia, a resident of the area who said she was an
eye witness told P.M.NEWS. Mrs. Josephine Ibeh, the mother of the
victim who owns a beer parlour at the back of the building where Edoh Pharmacy
is located, said her daughter came back and told her that blood was coming out
of her private part and on close examination she realised that she had been
defiled.
“I saw that her
private part had wound and was bleeding profusely and when I asked
her what happened, she told me that Edoh put his penis inside her,” Ibeh said.
Mrs. Ibeh said the
girl’s private part was severely damaged by the suspect and when she confronted
him, he gave her money to pacify her.
“When I confronted
Edoh, he brought out N50,000 and told me to take the girl to the hospital,
saying that it was the devil that pushed him to do it,” she said as tears
streamed down her cheeks.
Mrs. Eze said the
matter was reported to the police at the Divisional Headquarters in Ogoja and
the man was arrested while the girl was taken to the General Hospital
Ogoja where she was stitched.
A doctor at the
hospital, who pleaded anonymity, told P.M.NEWS that the girl
had “four stitches as the tear was deep and the lacerations caused by the
forced entry wide.”
A source at the
Divisional Police Headquarters confirmed that Edoh is in their custody and may
not be given bail immediately going by the inflamed passion in the town over
the act.
“We suspect ritual
purpose for the man’s act because that man is rich enough to have any woman of
his choice in this town. The white handkerchief the man used to collect the
blood is in our custody,” the police source said.
The matter, the
source added, would soon be transferred to the state police Command
Headquarters in Calabar.
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