Mother accuses police of trying to bury daughter's rape case with N200,000

A mother, Mrs Zainab Musa, living in Ketu, Lagos State, has raised alarm over what she calls a plan by some police officers to block justice for her 15-year-old daughter. The girl was allegedly raped by her lesson teacher in Ketu.

Mrs Musa shared her story on Tuesday. She said the suspect, whose name is not mentioned, threatened to kill her daughter if she told anyone about the incident. The mother explained that the school contacted her after the girl revealed the matter to a teacher.

"On Wednesday, two weeks ago, when they called me from my daughter’s school, she hadn’t even told me. She told the teacher because the man had threatened to kill her if she told me. That was when the school narrated everything to me," she said.

She also claimed the suspect came to the school looking for her daughter. "They told me that the suspect even came to the school to look for my daughter. He gave her N500 and a PT tool. The evidence is with the police in Ketu," she added.

Talking about the incident, Mrs Musa said her daughter told her it happened inside the tutorial class before other students arrived. "My daughter usually goes to the lesson class after school. She said she was the first person there that day when he raped my daughter. The suspect is our neighbour. My house is directly opposite his. We didn’t believe he could do this."

She said after the incident, the suspect and members of his church visited her home several times asking for forgiveness. "He came to my house to beg for forgiveness. His church members also came, saying it was a mistake and begging us to forgive him."

"A few days later, he came back again, pleading that we should let it go. That made me even angrier. He still had the guts to keep telling me to forget everything," she said. Eventually, the family reported the case at Ketu Police Station, and the suspect was arrested.

But Mrs Musa claimed that instead of following up on the case, some police officers pressured her to accept N200,000 and drop the matter. "It was last Thursday that the police kept calling me, telling me I should collect money and that we should bury the matter," she alleged.

She said the policewoman who was supposed to take them to court also tried to dissuade them from going ahead. "On the very day we were supposed to go to court, she asked if we still wanted to go. I told her we wanted justice. She then asked my daughter, who also said she wanted justice."

"The policewoman said, ‘You want to go to court, abi? You, this woman, you still want to go to court? Sebi they said you should collect money and forget it.’ she said that right inside the police station."

The mother further claimed that the same officer wanted her to write another statement, even though they had already provided theirs. "She wanted me to write another statement, but I refused because my daughter and I had already written our statements."

Things took a strange turn when officers announced that the suspect suddenly collapsed. "As I was speaking, they started shouting from outside that somebody had fainted. They brought out the man."

The police accused her of being cruel. "They were shouting, ‘You are wicked. This man is dying, and you are still saying you want to go to court. Can you not withdraw the case? Withdraw it now.’ They wanted to confuse me before my brother could come and join us, so they took the suspect away from the station."

While this was happening, the suspect's family begged her to drop the case. "All the family members were begging me, saying, ‘Please, forget it.’ I did not answer them. I simply told them to take him to the hospital."

She accused the police of trying to convince her family to settle out of court despite the alleged rape. "The police were playing the lead role in begging us to collect money after my daughter was raped and threatened with death if she told me."

"One police officer was talking to me while another took my daughter aside. They even asked my daughter that we should collect N200,000," she said. She feels the police are trying to protect the suspect from facing justice. "I feel the police are trying to shield Michael from being prosecuted. The way I see it, the man could not have just fainted. It looked like a planned act."

Ololade Ajayi, the founder of DOHS Cares Foundation, called for justice. She urged the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to step in before the suspect escapes from the hospital where he was taken. Ajayi said police officers have pressured the survivor’s mother to withdraw the case. "It is beginning to look like a ruse to prevent the perpetrator from facing the law."

When reached for comments, Abimbola Adebisi, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, confirmed that the case was reported at Ketu Police Station on June 13. "The suspect was arrested on the same date and detained at the station for detailed investigation," she said.

Adebisi explained that while preparing the case for court on June 15, the suspect collapsed and needed medical help. "He was immediately rushed to the Lagos State Emergency Hospital at Toll Gate, where he was admitted, and was later transferred to Gbagada General Hospital," she added.

She dismissed claims that police officers pressured the family to settle. "The case is still ongoing, and the suspect will be arraigned in court as soon as he is fit to face justice," she said.