Oluwatosin Omojuyigbe
The youths of Apata community in the Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State have accused the community chairman, Rufus Jagun, of trying to cover up the defilement of a three-year-old in the community.
PUNCH Metro learnt that a resident of the community, 23-year-old Christopher Arigidi, last Wednesday allegedly raped the three-year-old.
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It was gathered that Arigidi, who attended a naming ceremony in the community, took the victim to his house and allegedly defiled her.
Our correspondent learnt that Arigidi rubbed some engine oil on the victim’s private parts before committing the act.
One of the youths, Oshodi Ibeji, said Arigidi took the victim away under the guise of playing with her.
He said, “The suspect and some people were sitting together at the function; all of a sudden, the guy stood up and said he wanted to go and change his cloth at home.
“As he was going, he took the girl along with him; the mother of the victim saw him when he was going.
“When the mother went back home, she did not see her daughter so she went to Argigidi’s house and found out that the girl had been defiled.
“After discovering what happened, she reported to the youths who went to the man’s house to beat him up. He was later taken to the community chairman. He initially denied it but later confessed that he did it.”
Ibeji, however, said the youths were not happy with the way the community chairman was handling the case.
He noted that Arigidi’s family came to beg the chairman and he had released the suspect to them.
He said, “The youths are not happy with the action of the chairman, they want him to punish the suspect.”
The victim’s mother, Pouma Ologun, said when she saw Arigidi taking her daughter away, she thought nothing of it.
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Pouma said, “When I saw my daughter with Christopher (Arigidi), I asked him where he was going to and he said he wanted to buy something, so I left him alone.
“Later, I went to Christopher’s house to call my daughter, and as she was coming out, she was looking at her clothes. I drew her nearer and I saw oil on her laps, I asked her where she got oil from but she was just looking at me.
“When we got home, I removed her clothes and I saw oil in her private parts too, I called one of my friends who later told me that my daughter had been raped.
“When I asked my daughter who touched her, she mentioned Christopher’s name.”
Pouma said she wanted justice for her daughter, adding that she wanted the community to deal with Arigidi.
When contacted, the community chairman, Jagun, denied releasing Christopher to his family.
He said, “I was not around when it happened but when I got back, I was told what happened. I told some people to lock him up in a room since we don’t have a police station in our community.
“The decision to take him to a police station lies in the hand of the victim’s father because the nearest police station to our community is very far.”
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