Afeez Hanafi
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 33-year-old security man, Freedom Barryneh, for allegedly raping his neigbour’s daughter, aged eight.
The incident reportedly happened on Akali Street, in the Ajegunle area of Lagos State after the victim, Sandra (pseudonym), approached the suspect and requested N10 from him to buy biscuit.
PUNCH Metro learnt that after giving her the money, Barryneh, who was watching a pornographic film when the minor entered his apartment, persuaded her to stay with him.
While the movie was on, he allegedly told Sandra to undress but she declined, saying her mother would beat her for doing so.
The suspect, however, allegedly resorted to force and allegedly dragged her into bed and raped her.
Our correspondent gathered that Sandra, who was warned by the suspected rapist not to disclose the act to anybody, eventually opened up to her mother when she began to feel pains in her private parts.
The victim said, “I asked Mr. Freedom (Barryneh) to give me N10 to buy biscuit and he did. He took me inside his room. He was watching one video that was showing naked men and women. He asked me to remove my clothes, but I said my mother would beat me. He pushed me and put me on his bed. He removed my clothes and put his thing inside my private parts. I was afraid of telling my mother.”
Her mother, identified only as Ellen, reported the incident at the Ajegunle Police Division which led to the suspect’s arrest on March 3.
PUNCH Metro saw that the results of medical tests conducted on the girl at the Ajeromi General Hospital, Lagos, stated, “Hymen broken with bruises around the infroitus.”
The result, which was signed by one Dr I.A. Dauda, also stated that she suffered from “whitish foul smelling vaginal discharge.”
Barryneh, who hails from Rivers State, admitted giving the girl N10 to buy biscuit, but denied raping her. He added that the allegation was an attempt to blackmail him.
He said, “I work with a private security outfit. She and her friends were playing when she came to me that she needed N10 to buy biscuit. She stood somewhere in my room waiting for the money. I was watching a love movie titled, ‘Naked Weapon’. It involved sex. I was surprised when her mother reported at the station that I raped her daughter. I never had sex with the girl. I only gave her the money.”
 A police prosecutor, Woman Sergeant Francisca Okere, brought Barryneh before an Apapa Magistrate’s Court on two counts of rape.
Okere told the court that the offence contravened sections 137 and 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The charges read in part, “That you, Freedom Barryneh, sometime in August 2015, at about 14.30 hours on Akali Street, Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos, in the Apapa Magisterial District, did penetrate sexually with your penis the privare parts of an eight-year-old girl, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge before the presiding magistrate, Mrs. O.A. Adegite, who admitted him to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
While adjourning for March 24, 2016, Adegite added that the sureties must be gainfully employed and must present to the court evidence of tax payments.