A 75-year-old man has allegedly raped an eight-year-old girl in Anambra State, Nigeria’s south-east.
The suspect, Nwankwo Nweke, hails from Isi Agu, a community in Awka South Local Government Area of the state.
Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, a media aide to the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare in Anambra State, Ify Obinabo, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
How it happened
Ms Ikeanyionwu said the parents of the survivor, John and Ogochukwu Ugwuanyi, narrated how the incident happened.
The media aide said the parents sent the girl to buy an item at a nearby shop around 7 p.m. on the fateful day, but she did not return home, prompting them to search for her.
She said when the girl could not be found, the parents raised an alarm.
The parents, according to the statement, would later learn that the suspect, who was their neighbour, had taken their daughter into his house and told her not to answer her name.
They alleged that the suspect pushed the survivor out of his room when he felt the search was over.
On how they knew what transpired between their daughter and the 75- 75-year-old suspect, the parents said that when their daughter finally came back that night, they questioned her. She told them that the suspect lured her to his house with a promise to give her mango.
They added that it was at that point that they involved security operatives before taking their child to the hospital for examination.
Suspect speaks
Mr Nweke, the suspect, was heard confessing that he raped the survivor in a video clip uploaded on Facebook alongside the statement.
“It was a temptation that pushed (me) to rape her,” he said in the Igbo language.
He appealed for mercy and promised not to commit such a crime again if the state government pardoned him.
Commissioner reacts
Responding, the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare in the state, Mrs Obinabo, expressed sadness over the incident.
She regretted that despite the state government’s fight against rape, some “bad eggs” were still engaging in the crime.
Prohibited in Nigeria
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 a maximum of 14-year jail term, depending on the age of the offender and the type of violence committed.
Various courts of rape have convicted several persons.
An Ado-Ekiti High Court, in July 2022, sentenced a 49-year-old man, Dele Adeyanju, to four years imprisonment for raping an 11-year-old girl.
A Bauchi High Court, in 2017, sentenced two middle-aged men to life in prison for raping a 40-year-old woman and plucking her eyes.
