A 13-year-old girl (names withheld) was allegedly abducted and defiled by a man simply identified as Prince in Ogbogoro community in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It was gathered that the suspect the girl for two days after she was abducted in a lonely area and took her to his house on Monday evening.
The mother of the assaulted teenager, who simply gave her name as Ify, said she sent her daughter on an errand when the incident happened.
The distraught woman said, “I sent my 13-year-old daughter to go and buy charcoal and leaf for me on Monday around 5 pm. But I waited till 8 pm I didn’t see her. So, I became worried.
“So, we started looking for her. I went to the place where they were selling leaf and charcoal and was told they had not seen my daughter.
“We continued searching for her street to street till on Wednesday morning around past 12 pm when we saw our daughter running towards us. We immediately asked her where she had been and why she was running. She said one man was pursuing her.
“We asked her to take us to the place where the man named Prince is staying, around what they call White House area in Ogbogoro.
“We saw the brother, and he said he was the one who took and held our daughter for two days while she was on an errand.
“I checked my daughter as a mother, and she has been touched. I’m calling on the government and police to arrest this man to pay for what he did to my daughter.”
Meanwhile, a rights group, the Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign, said the parents of the teenage girl contacted them three days after the incident, saying the matter had been reported to the Ozuoba Police Division.
The National Coordinator of the group, Prince Wiro, said, “The police should ensure the immediate arrest of the suspect for him to be held accountable for his alleged crime.
“We also express worry about the safety of young girls in Ogbogoro as the incident seems to be a recurring one considering the fact that a similar incident happened on February 15, 2024, in the same Ogbogoro, where a 42-year-old man and two of his gang members abducted a 12-year-old girl to an uncompleted building where she was defiled for days.
“The police must ensure that such incidents do not become a norm in that area.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for the State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, said she would find out and revert.
She had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
