The Lagos State police command has apprehended a man, identified as Nathaniel, for allegedly drugging and raping his 14-year-old housemaid in the Ikotun area of the state.
According to Punch Metro, Nathaniel, who stayed on Ajisegiri Street, in the Egbe area, was arrested by the Ikotun Police Division on Sunday. It was gathered that the suspect allegedly lured his housemaid, Chinwe (pseudonym), with a cup of juice penultimate Monday, which contained a sedative.
The two persons were reportedly alone in the apartment on the day. The victim, who is an orphan, was brought from a village in the south eastern part of Nigeria to work in Nathaniel’s house.
It was said that when she woke up, she found that she was naked. She also reportedly found semen in her private parts.
It was gathered that after the incident, Chinwe fled the house, dropping a letter for the suspect’s wife to intimate her on the sexual abuse she (Chinwe) had allegedly suffered.
It was learnt that the teenager also confided in a neighbour, who is a pastor in the area. The pastor was said to have informed a child rights’ organization, which in turn reported at a police station.
In the letter obtained by Punch Metro, Chinwe wrote that she did not want to return to the house as she was fed up with sexual abuses allegedly by Nathaniel.
She said:
“Dear aunty, I want to go. I am suffering here. Look at what your husband has been doing to me. The last time that he did it, he gave me a drink and I did not know that he purposely gave me that drink so that I could fall asleep. It was when I woke up that I now found myself naked. I now saw white thing on my laps. This is what he was doing to me the other time that I told you that I wanted to go. I do not want to cause trouble for you. Please, call my brother to come and take me away. I want to go and I do not want to stay here again.”
A source with the Child Protection Network, where the pastor reported the case, said,
“The man is over 40 years old. He employed the victim as a domestic help.
He had been sexually abusing the 14-year-old victim. On that Monday, he drugged her juice. That day was a public holiday. When she slept off, he raped her.
She ran away from the house, because she did not want trouble for the man’s wife. Nathaniel has been arrested by the police. The Family Support Unit of the police is handling the matter.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed Nathaniel’s arrest. She said, “The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, has directed that the case be charged to court.”