The police in Lagos State have arrested a 17-year-old boy, identified simply as Ojo, for the alleged abduction and defilement of a 15-year-old girl.
Ojo reportedly picked the girl, Bola (not real name) from her parents’ home in the Ikeja area of the state and took her to his father’s residence, where they spent the night together.
City Round learnt that the next day, Ojo and Bola checked into a hotel and spent over a week before the girl was found and Ojo arrested by the police.
After much pleading by his family, the boy wrote an undertaking that he would stay away from the girl, but returned to her about two months later and took her away for days.
A manhunt was launched for him by the police at the Mosalasi division and he was rearrested. The case was consequently transferred to the gender unit at the police headquarters in Ikeja.
The senior secondary school pupil told the police that she became submissive to Ojo after he hypnotised her, adding that he sexually harassed her to the point that she became tired.
She stated, “I met him on Facebook. He traced me to my house on September 16 when my parents were not around. He told me he is a yahoo boy (an Internet fraudster) and that he has made a lot of money. He brought out a loaf of bread and biscuits and forced me to eat the biscuit. After eating it, I didn’t know what I was doing again. I told him my mum had N500,000 in her drawer and he asked me to bring it which I did.
“He then took me to his house where I slept that night with his father and sister. The next morning, he took me to a hotel. On September 27, I was found and taken back home. After one month, he came to my house and I reported him to my parents. They then reported to the police.
“On November 12, he came to my mum’s shop and gave me a phone. He came back on a bike and took me to a house where he kept me for one week. He then took me to another house where his aunt and her husband stay. He forcefully had sex with me. He also inserted his fingers in my private parts. He would ask me to suck his private parts and beat me if I refused.
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“I became very tired and lay on the bed. His aunt came to meet me and said she didn’t want police trouble. She put me on a bus which dropped me near my school.”
Bola, who said she was a victim of circumstance, explained that one of her teachers saw her unconscious and rushed her to hospital.
“I have never forced myself on a man before. I have been a very good girl with good records in school,” she added.
Ojo, in his statement, however, said he did not force the girl into the relationship, claiming that she ran away from home of her own volition.
The teenager, who just completed his secondary school, said they started dating each other in August 2019.
He said, “She came to me one day and said her mother had sent her packing and that she had nowhere to go. So I had to accommodate her. The next day, her uncle came to my house and warned me to stay away from her and he took her home. After one week, she called me and we started talking again.
“On September 16, she ran away from home and came to meet me. She said her mum beat her but I didn’t know she was lying. We went to a hotel where we stayed together for 11 days. We were later picked up by the police and taken to the station. They asked me to write an undertaking that I would stay away from her.
“I was at home one evening with my friends when I saw her coming towards me. I was shocked and asked her what she came to do. She said her mum saw a phone with her; collected it and beat her. I told her that I have nothing to do with her again because of the undertaking I had written. She left and since then I have not seen her.”
Bola’s mother stated that her daughter had told her she was going to school on September 16. She said she became worried when Bola did not return and she contacted the school, but was told that the girl was absent.
The woman said, “We started looking for her with the assistance of the police. On September 27, police tracked her down and arrested her with the boy (Ojo). Because of the intervention of his family, I decided to let go of the case and he wrote an undertaking that he would not come near my daughter again.
“But some weeks later, he started coming to my house secretly. When I knew, I reported back to the police. The police officer invited the boy and his father but they refused to honour the invitation.
“On November 12, Ojo came to my house on a bike. Before I could come out, he abducted my daughter and took her to an unknown place. She stole my N500,000 which they spent in the hotel.”
Ojo was subsequently brought before an Ogba magistrates’ court on two counts of abduction and defilement by a police prosecutor, ASP Benson Emuerhi.
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The charges read in part, “That you, Ojo (surname withheld), on November 12, 2019, around 8pm, at Ikeja, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully abduct a 15-year-old girl out of the custody of her parents, thereby committing an offence punishable Under Section 141 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
“That you, Ojo, did unlawfully defile a 15-year-old girl contrary to Section 27 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The presiding Chief Magistrate, Mrs O. Sule-Amzat, granted him bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The case was adjourned till February 20, 2019.