A 100-level female student (name withheld) of the Department of Health Education, Delta State College of Health Technology Ofuoma, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state has been raped at her place of internship.
SouthernVoiceNews reports that the student narrated how she was brutally raped inside the Agbarha-Otor Primary Health Centre in Ughelli North Local Government Area by an unknown rapist who broke into the premises.
She said, “It was July 24, 2023. At about 1:30am, while I was asleep, I felt the sensation that someone was close to me, as I am not a deep sleeper. Immediately I opened my eyes, behold a strange person was standing by the bed I was lying with a knife and pointing something like a gun at me. I was terrified and scared as he signalled to me with his hand to keep quiet. He commanded me to stand up and led me out of where we were sleeping at the parlour to where the lady staff was sleeping in the delivery room. When we got there, he saw the lady lying face the wall, then he asked me to turn around, which I obeyed because he was behind me and pointing a knife and gun at my head. He then asked me if there was money in the Health Centre, I told him I don’t know, and he also asked the type of phones all of us were using. Then I told him that my Android was already with him, but the others had button phones. He then led me to the matron’s office, and inside the office, there is a room, he took me there, drop a foam and asked me to lie down or he shoots and stabbed me to death because I was terrified, I obeyed as he directed, and he asked me to pull off my clothes and, at this point, (She paused) and heavily she said; he raped me. After raping me, he asked for my phone password, my ATM password which I gave to him. He then opened the phone and started filming my nude, and warned me that if I should tell anyone, he would send my nude videos viral.
“It was like a dream to me because everything happened very fast and there was no one to rescue me. So he led me back to my room, but the surprising thing was that I didn’t hear him open the door or hear the sound of any banging of a door. It was after a minute or thereabout that I went to wake my colleagues and narrated what happened to them and the only staff around.”
According to her, the staff immediately put a call through to the matron who lives in Warri, and the matron immediately called the Chairman of the street where the Health Centre is situated in Agbarha-Otor.
“The Chairman came and asked me to follow him to the king’s palace where he said there are vigilantes, but when we got there, we didn’t find the vigilantes, so he, (the chairman of the street ) said we should go to the station to incident the case. On our way going, we met the vigilantes, and after interrogation, they followed us to the station,” she said.
Agbarha-Otor Police Station:
When we got to the station, we met a woman Inspector on duty, and she asked me if I had issues with anyone or if I suspected anybody, I told her no, and I narrated what transpired to her. Then she asked me to write down my statement which I did, and one of my student colleagues who also followed us was asked to put down her statement, but in her statement, she said; that at about 1:00am, she went outside to wee, but said she locked the door. After our statements, the police officer gave me her phone number to reach her anytime I saw the suspect and also gave me a note to the Central Hospital Ughelli for treatment.
General Hospital Ughelli:
The following morning, the matron accompanied me to the hospital to see a police doctor. When we got there, the doctor after reading the notes from the police, and asking me few questions recommended an HIV test which was done. After that, he gave me some drugs against infections and it was my parents who paid for all the bills.
Agbarha-Otor Kings Palace:
To formally and officially report the matter to the community, the matron and two of my lecturers accompanied me to the king’s palace to inform him of the horrible and traumatic experiences I had, but when we got there, we only met the President-General of the Agbarha-Otor community, who told us that the King was asleep and he cannot be woken up. So we left, and since then we haven’t heard from the community nor did they call me.
School Authority Responses:
Well, the school authority only responded through the director of SIWES and one of my lecturers. Nothing more was done except that they withdrew us from the Health Centre and asked us to go to Ekuigbo Health Centre to continue with the programme and that is all.
Tracking of phone:
Actually, we had wanted to track the phone, but when my dad saw what transpired at the hospital and the police station where he alone paid all the expenses, he decided to forget about it as we have heard that at the police station, tracking of phones also involves n a lot of money.
Justice:
The fear of not being believed, or even being blamed for being raped, is creating a dangerous culture of silence that prevents survivors from seeking justice. It is unacceptable that survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence face such a torturous ordeal to get justice, which only adds to their pain.
Despite the Nigerian authorities’ declaration of a “state of emergency” on sexual and gender-based violence, rape still persists with most survivors denied justice, rapists avoiding prosecution, and hundreds of cases of rape going unreported due to pervasive corruption, stigma and victim blaming. The ‘state of emergency’ has proven to be an empty declaration, which has so far done nothing to protect women and girls in Nigeria.
Hear her; “I want justice to be done on this matter. I want the law to take its course on this guy. I want the suspect apprehended. I am calling on the Delta State Government, the Nigeria Police and all other relevant bodies to come and help me. I am traumatized. Since July 24th, I have not been myself. It has not been easy for me because I can’t imagine it as the scenario keeps playing in my memory.”
No doubt, the failure of the police to investigate this sexual violence and assault, will deprive this survivor of justice.
Findings by this medium revealed that cases of rape have been on the increase in Agbarha-Otor recently.
According to sources, four female students of Ibru College Agbarha-Otor were allegedly raped in July, and up till now no one has been arrested, and if the trend continues without a stop, the rapist may still go about assaulting other females in the area.
Source: SouthernVoiceNews
