A seminarian of the Anglican Church in Anambra State has allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl in the state.
The suspect, Chukwudi Okoye, 34, allegedly raped the girl in Amanuke, a community in Awka North Local Government Area of the state.
Chidimma Ikeanyionwu, a media aide to the State Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.
Ms Ikeanyionwu said the suspect allegedly raped the survivor in July but the incident was reported to Mrs Obinabo in August.
The media aide said the commissioner, through her ministry, has arrested the suspect.
A video clip which showed the suspect speaking on the incident was uploaded on the commissioner’s Facebook page on Tuesday.
In the clip, Mr Okoye, who hails from Enugu Agidi in Njikoka Council Area of the state, initially claimed he only “fingered’ the survivor.
The suspect claimed he asked the survivor and her friend to wash some plates when they visited him in his Amanuke residence.
He further claimed that the survivor, after her colleague left, later came and laid on his bed before he removed her clothes and “fingered” her.
But when told that the survivor said he raped her, he retorted in Igbo language: “I fingered her and then put my penis in-between her laps. But I did not penetrate her because she’s small.”
Mr Okoye asked for forgiveness and argued that what happened was the “work of the devil”.
The survivor (name withheld), according to the statement, said the suspect raped her at her graduation ceremony when he called her and her friend to come and wash plates for him.
After finishing washing the plates, the suspect discharged her friend but asked her to stay back and play with him, according to her.
According to her, the suspect subsequently took her to the bed, removed her clothes and raped her.
The survivor said she did not tell anyone of the incident immediately because the suspect had seriously threatened to deal with her if she told anyone.
Ms Ikeanyionwu quoted the survivor’s grandmother as saying that she became aware of the incident after the granddaughter got seriously sick about one week later.
She said she took her granddaughter to the suspect’s house after being informed of what happened.
Ms Ikeanyionwu said the suspect has since been handed over to the police for further investigation.
She said the suspect would be charged upon conclusion of the investigation.
Nigeria, in 2015, enacted the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, which outlawed all forms of violence against women and girls, including rape, female circumcision and forceful ejection.
Offenders, on conviction, face life imprisonment or maximum of 14-year jail term, depending on the age of the offender and type of violence committed.
Several persons have been convicted by various courts for rape.
An Ado-Ekiti High Court, in July 2022, sentenced a 49-year-old man, Dele Adeyanju, to four years imprisonment for molesting an 11-year-old girl.
A Bauchi High Court, in 2017, sentenced two middle aged men to life in prison for molesting a 40-year-old woman and plucking her eyes.
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