Tony Ukwamedua (an anti-cult member in Issele-Azagba, Aniocha North Local Government Areas of Delta State) raped a 15-year-old girl (name withheld).

The PUNCH gathered that the victim had gone to look for her brothers who went to buy something at the house around 9:pm, only to be missing but later found in her pool of blood around 1 am the next morning.

Narrating her ordeal, the victim said, “I went to look for my brothers when uncle Tony met me and asked where I was going.

“I told him I was looking for my brothers who came out to buy something. He asked me to join him on his bike to trace them further. I know him and he was carrying gun, and so I joined him.

“Instead of going up small, he drove straight to the brother’s guest house around the market. I told him, ‘Uncle this is not where you should bring me, allow me to go, my parents must be looking for me too’.

“Nobody was sighted around when he brought me inside the guest house and was asking me if I was a virgin. I told him yes. He said I should not worry that he wants to have s*x with me, that he would use two condoms together to penetrate well.

“I was crying and begging him to allow me go. He now turned my hands back and pushed me on the bed. He covered my mouth and forced me naked and started raping me.

“When he finished, I was bleeding and crying. He now brought water and asked me to wash up. He forced N5,000 into my hand and asked me not to tell anybody. When I managed to get home, I told my daddy what uncle Tony did”

Johnbest Okolie, the victim's father said that after his daughter told him the story, he left to find Tony.

Okolie said, “The rapist who has no remorse was bold to chase me with gun. Thank God for my two sons who were coming after me. They held him down, collected the gun and he escaped while being beaten.

“I took the gun to our palace and handed it over to the Obi of Issele-Azagba. Early that morning, not knowing what to do, I was directed to take my daughter to a private clinic for treatment.

“She was given injection, drip and some drugs. But throughout that day and the next morning, she was still bleeding before somebody directed me to bring her to this SARC unit in Asaba Specialist Hospital where government handles cases of sexual assault.

“I thank God that we came here, since morning it has been one medical examination and the other. We received the best of cooperation. The Child’s Rights Committee people assured me that the government will handle everything regarding her comprehensive tests and treatments.

“I want this animal in human nature to pay for what he did to my innocent daughter. I have nobody, I am just a poor farmer struggling to take care of my children. I need justice for this little child Tony has just destroyed her life.”

Kevwe Agas (chairman of the Delta State Child's Rights Implementation Committee) confirmed the incident over the telephone and said that proper security, legal, and medical documentation would be used to prosecute the case.

She stated that justice must be served in order to dissuade irresponsible men from attempting to defile or rape the Girl Child.

“The government under Senator Ifeanyi Okowa will not fold its arms and watch perpetrators of sexual violence offences go scot free.

“That is why the State passed the Child’s Rights Law and its being fully implemented under this government. This is evil and it must be treated as evil with full consequences of the law,” she added.