Raped
in Nigeria, maltreated in Spain
•He
impregnated me at 15, in JSS2, attempted to kill me in Spain
A
young Nigerian mother, Martha Happy, has narrated how she narrowly escaped
death in the hands of a 70-year-old Spaniard who allegedly raped and
impregnated her in Nigeria at the age of 15, and later attempted to kill her in
Spain.
Happy’s
sad story was told barely three weeks after Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain, Mrs
Bianca Ojukwu, raised the alarm that many Nigerians, particularly women, die in
the desert in their desperation to cross over to Spain.
The
young woman from Edo State, who returned to Nigeria in April this year, told
Sunday Sun that but for sheer luck, she would have been strangled to death by
the elderly Spanish father of her son in far away Spain, like a fellow
Nigerian, 29-year-old Miss Ada Maureen Otuya, allegedly killed by her martial
artist lover in that country.
How we
met
Narrating
her harrowing experience, Happy said she had met the Spaniard (names withheld),
who worked for the Liberian Airways as an engineer, in 2009, while he lodged in
Topsy Hotel, located near her school, St Paul’s, Ketu in Lagos.
She
said that the Spaniard usually greeted her on her way to school, and on one of
such days, he sent her to buy sachet water for him.
As
Happy who was in JSS3 at the time, went for the water, the man returned to his
hotel room and when she returned and made to drop the water with the hotel’s
gatemen, they told her to take it to his room. The gatemen had reasoned that
they would not risk being blamed if the white man came to any hurt after
drinking the water.
Old
man turns rapist
Happy
who said she did not suspect anything, accepted to take the water to the
Spaniard’s room and he raped her.
“He
saw me each time I passed the hotel to school and he would greet me because my
school was opposite the hotel. I thought he was a responsible man and old
enough to be my grandfather at about 70 years. I felt he had no strength to go
out to get the water; so I helped him. I did not know that he would rape me.
When he held me, I shouted but he had locked the doors and nobody heard me
shouting,” she said.
Happy
told Sunday Sun that her parents were not aware of what happened to her because
she lived with her sisters in Lagos.
She
recalled that the Spaniard fled to Spain when she told him that she was
pregnant, but returned after three months and relocated her to a hotel where
she stayed for one month before he rented a room-and-parlour apartment for her.
She
said the man took care of her until she gave birth to a baby boy on April 25,
2010.
Journey
to Spain
Thereafter,
he started processing travel papers for her and their baby, Anthonio, but the
Spanish Embassy allegedly appeared reluctant to issue her travel documents.
“He
wanted to take me and my baby to Spain. He got all the papers for my son, but
mine was difficult. The Embassy denied me three times. They demanded to see my
parents because I was too young then. But I obtained my international passport
in Abeokuta and got three months visa in February this year. So, on February
18, I travelled with him and our son Anthonio,” she said.
Terrible
times abroad
Happy
stated that shortly before they boarded the plane to Spain, the man’s attitude
towards her changed and things got worse for her when they arrived in Spain.
“When
we got to Spain, he would take the baby out alone and at a time, I followed him
anywhere he took the baby and he did not like that. He later blocked my phone
and I could not talk to anybody, including my father,” she said, adding that
when she asked him why he blocked her line, he threatened to kill her with a
knife.
Happy
told Sunday Sun that the man abused and beat her each time she wanted to return
to Nigeria until a lady who usually dropped newspapers in their house noticed
what was happening and called in the police who arrested and charged him to
court in March.
Consequently,
she was taken to a home for abused women in that country where people advised
her to go to the Nigerian Embassy, that helped to bring her back home in April.
Alleged
killing of a Nigerian
The
young mother also told the story of a fellow Nigerian she identified as Ada
Maureen Otuya, who was allegedly killed recently in Spain, by her Spanish
lover.
It was
reliably gathered that Miss Otuya, who hailed from Agbor in Delta State,
arrived in Spain from Morocco in September 2009, and was undocumented, thereby
living in the country illegally.
The
source also said that she was picked up by a Spanish martial artist, who took
her to his gymnasium in Bilbao, Spain, where he allegedly tried to strangle her
but for the timely intervention of neighbours who alerted the police.
The
Spanish police were said to have taken her to hospital where she died on June
5, prompting the Nigerian community in Spain to stage series of demonstrations
in Bilbao.
The
suspect was arrested, charged to court and remanded in prison custody.
The
Nigerian Embassy in Spain was said to have briefed a lawyer to handle the
matter because the deceased had no relations in Spain.
Checks
also revealed that when contacted by the Embassy, her family members in Nigeria
expressed desire to have her remains brought back home.
Thanking
the Nigerian Embassy in Spain for accepting her and bringing her back home,
Happy advised other Nigerian girls still in Spain that, “no matter the
situation in Nigeria”, they should come back home.
She
added: “There are lots of better things they can do at home here than
prostitution. They should have hope because prostitution is not a good way of
life. There are so many things one can do here to earn a decent living.”
Happy
was unhappy that she hurt her parents because of what happened to her, but
added, “I am happy to be back.”
Father’s
demand for son
About
her Spanish husband, she said: “My husband sent a message that I should bring
Anthonio back; that he was coming to take the child, but I told him that he
would never see Anthonio again.”
She
appealed to public-spirited individuals and the government for financial
assistance to enable her start a business and cater for herself and her son.
When
contacted on phone, Ambassador Ojukwu said that many cases similar to what
befell the late Ada and Happy confront her mission daily, adding that
diplomatic reasons had placed big hurdles in the way to handle such cases.
Ambassador
Ojukwu reiterated her advice to young girls who are not professionals and have
not completed their education, to think twice before going abroad to work,
pointing out that most of them end up as sex workers.
She
said that her mission would always assist Nigerian girls and others in Spain
who experience difficulty in returning home.
Source: Sun
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