Two of the neighbours – a driver, Taofeeq Alabi, and a dry cleaner, Igwe Andrew, aged 49 and 31, respectively – are facing trial for defilement. The other two – Babatunde Green and Babatunde Andrew – are currently at large.
Led in evidence by Mrs Arinola Momoh-Ayokanbi, prosecution counsel, the complainant, who is the first prosecution witness, narrated how each of the two defendants allegedly defiled her.
“The wife of Taofeeq Alabi, the first defendant, is a fashion designer and I usually go to their apartment upstairs to learn while she sews clothes for clients. One day, her husband asked me to come to the apartment, that he wanted to send me on an errand.
“When I got into the apartment, he gave me a powder to lick and told me that he had put something (black magic) in my body and that even though I got married, it would still be there. I became very scared; he removed my clothes and had sexual intercourse with me.
“I did not tell anyone about what happened because of fear and I was also afraid of how my parents might react if I told them,’’ she said.
Narrating how Andrew, the second defendant allegedly defiled her, she said he committed the offence in her bedroom.
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“I was fast asleep in my bedroom and forgot to lock the door. Andrew came into my bedroom and lay on top of me.
“When I woke up and asked why he was in my room, he asked me to shut up. He told me that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with me,” she said.
The witness said that she tried unsuccessfully to push him away and he forcefully defiled her.
“After it happened, my younger brother came into the bedroom, saw him and beat him with a stick, telling him to get out of the room.
“The next day, he approached me and told me he wanted me to do something for him. When I asked what it was, he proceeded to show me a blue film (pornography) on his phone. I ignored him and since that day, I avoided him,’’ she said.
The complainant said both defendants defiled her when she was a 14-year-old Senior Secondary (SS1) student.
THE SUN, NIGERIA