Tears flowed freely, yesterday, in Delta State when a traumatised mother of a 13- year-old girl, Mrs. Loveth Taiwo, narrated how her daughter was abducted in Warri and taken to Ghana, where she was violently raped for several weeks before being brought back home half dead.
The event was the 2021 edition of 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) against women and girls, organised by the Delta State Government in collaboration with the 05 Initiatives.
Among those who wept profusely were Delta State governor’s wife, Dame Edith Okowa, Head of Department (HOD) Mass Communication, Delta State University, Dr. Joyce Ogwezi, the State Commissioner for Humanitarian and Communities Development, Mrs. Bridget Ayanfulu and other women.
In an emotion laden voice, Mrs. Taiwo, who cried, said trouble started one Saturday morning when she sent her daughter, Sharon Taiwo, a Senior Secondary School 1 student of Dore Numa College Warri, to buy food nearby.
According to her, that was to be the last time she saw her until about six weeks later when she was dumped in the area half dead.
Mrs. Taiwo said she waited for her to return with the food to no avail until she decided to go in search.
She added that all efforts to locate her whereabouts were unsuccessful and the following day she reported the case to the police at the A Division Warri, where policemen, including the Divisional Police Officer, put up an embarrassing attitude and refused to do anything meaningful and even demanded money before they would attend to her.
According to her, after six weeks, Sharon was found in the area where she was dumped half dead.
She said: “When we saw her, she was smelling and water was rushing out from her private part. We later discovered from her that she was abducted and taken to Ghana as sex slave, where she slept with average of 10 men a day until a white man helped her to escape back to Nigeria.”
The woman also revealed that Sharon was pregnant but the baby died in her womb as a result of numerous injections she was subjected to while in captivity.
“The Doctors told us the next thing was to evacuate the foetus, but they feared she would not be able to withstand the pain now.
They have recommended some drugs but I don’t have the money yet,” she said.
The traumatised mother revealed that the police still demanded N15,000 from her to start investigation and the counsellor in Sharon’s school, one Jennifer paid the money before they commenced investigation, which led to the arrest of one Mudiaga.
According to her, it was discovered that she was abducted and taken to a nearby hotel, Williams 69 Hotel at Iyara in Warri before she was transported to Ghana.
She expressed appreciation to Pastor Edewor Ogedegbe and Jennifer, the Counsellor at Dore Numa College for all their support.
Apparently disturbed by the fate of the young girl, Mrs. Okowa said she would do everything possible to get justice.
She promised to take the matter up with the governor, and the Commissioner of Police to prosecute those involved.
Mrs. Okowa hinted that justice would be done, and thereafter presented a cheque of an undisclosed amount of money to Mrs. Taiwo to assist the rape victim.
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