A woman living in Lagos, known as Rita Ebirim, has demanded for justice following the alleged defilement of her five-year-old daughter by her brother-in-law.
According to the PUNCH, the distraught mother explained that her estranged husband had filed for divorce on August 2, 2022, and while waiting for the trial, she was ordered by the court to allow the father to have access to their daughter.
Ebirim explained that her daughter was defiled during her second visit to her father by his brother.
She said, “One day in February last year, he came to pick her up for the first time in the morning and returned her in the evening. That day, I sensed that something was wrong with my girl, and I voiced my suspicion to my lawyer, but he waved it off
“The next time, he came to take her to visit him, and she returned to me at night beyond the speculated time. Later, when I wanted to bathe her, she started crying, pushing my hands away, saying that I shouldn’t touch her ‘there.’
“When I asked her who touched her there, she told me her uncle touched her.”
Ebirim said when she called her daughter’s father, he said he didn’t do anything to her and immediately told her to take the girl to the hospital, “knowing full well that it was late at night.”
“I took her to two hospitals, and after she was examined, the doctors said she had bruises on her private parts, that she had been sexually molested,” she added.
The distraught mother noted that the case has been reported to the Ketu police station and also the Lagos State Sexual and Domestic Violence Agency.
“Although the suspect was arrested, he was later released on bail, and up till now, we are still awaiting a hearing in court. The case has needlessly dragged on, and it feels that justice is elusive,” Ebirim added.
Giving an update on the case, the Executive Secretary of the DSVA, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, in a chat with our correspondent, disclosed that a forensic interview had been conducted for the child and that the case had been referred to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
