Daddy touches me, puts his Thing in my mouth, gives me money—7-yr-old girl

Chukwuemeka Odunze

A seven-year-old girl (names withheld) has narrated how her father paid her after sexually abusing her at their Ojokoro Housing Estate, Meiran, Ijaiye, Lagos, residence.

The primary three pupil said: “My daddy usually gives me money after touching my private part or putting his penis in my mouth. He touches my private part when my mother is outside washing clothes or when she is not in the house.”

The victim’s father, identified as Chukwuemeka Odunzie, allegedly started defiling his daughter early last year.

Narrating her ordeal, the victim’s mother, Mrs Odunzie, said: “Last year, my son told me that his younger sister was fond of playing with her private parts. It sounded strange that a seven-year-old child would be doing that.

“I will talk to her, scold her and sometimes beat her. There was a time I told my husband.

“All he said was that if she was acting strangely I should take her to any of these white garment churches. I was alarmed when one day, while we were in the sitting room, she started touching and playing with herself.

She confesses to mother

“Immediately, I called her inside the room and asked
her what the problem was. I asked her if anyone was fiddling with her private parts. She said it was her father that always touched her private parts and that after touching her private parts, he would give her money.

“I confronted my husband when he returned from work but he denied vehemently. I reported a case of defilement to Ebenezer Divisional Police and the policemen invited my husband for questioning.

“He was arrested later by the police, who gave me a report to take my daughter to the hospital. The doctor said there had been no penetration, but that there is an opening in her virginal and advised that the victim be tested for infection.



Family pressure

“By the time we came back from the hospital, the IPO said it was a family issue and that we should go home and settle the case.

“Members of his family were shouting, saying that I had no right to report the case to the police, that it was a family issue that should be treated as one. They pressurized me till I withdrew the case, after which he promised not to defile our daughter again.

“After I withdrew the case, my husband began to beat the children at the slightest provocation. And at times, he would beat them for no tangible reason.