A 33-year-old security man, Freedom Barryneh, Has been
arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly raping his neighbor’s daughter, aged eight.
The incident reportedly happened on Akali Street, in the
Ajegunle area of Lagos State after the victim, Sandra
(pseudonym), approached the suspect and requested N10
from him to buy biscuit.
After giving her the money, Barryneh, who was watching a
p*rnographic film when the minor entered his apartment,
persuaded her to stay with him.
While the movie was on, he allegedly told Sandra to
undress but she declined, saying her mother would beat her for doing so.
The suspect, however, allegedly resorted to force and allegedly dragged her into bed and raped her.
It was gathered that Sandra, who was warned by the
suspected r*pist not to disclose the act to anybody,
eventually opened up to her mother when she began to feel
pains in her pr*vate parts.
The victim said,
“I asked Mr. Freedom (Barryneh) to give me N10 to
buy biscuit and he did. He took me inside his room.
He was watching one video that was showing n*ked
men and women. He asked me to remove my
clothes, but I said my mother would beat me. He
pushed me and put me on his bed. He removed my
clothes and put his thing inside my private parts. I
was afraid of telling my mother.”
Her mother, identified only as Ellen, reported the incident
at the Ajegunle Police Division which led to the suspect’s
arrest on March 3.
Results of medical tests conducted on the girl at the
Ajeromi General Hospital, Lagos, stated, “Hymen broken with bruises around the infroitus.”
The result, which was signed by one Dr I.A. Dauda, also
stated that she suffered from “whitish foul smelling vaginal
discharge.”
Barryneh, who hails from Rivers State, admitted giving the
girl N10 to buy biscuit, but denied r*ping her. He added
that the allegation was an attempt to blackmail him.
He said,
“I work with a private security outfit. She and her
friends were playing when she came to me that she
needed N10 to buy biscuit. She stood somewhere in
my room waiting for the money. I was watching a
love movie titled, ‘N*ked Weapon’. It involved s*x. I
was surprised when her mother reported at the
station that I r*ped her daughter. I never had s*x
with the girl. I only gave her the money."
A police prosecutor, Woman Sergeant Francisca Okere,
brought Barryneh before an Apapa Magistrate’s Court on two counts of rape.
Okere told the court that the offence contravened sections
137 and 259 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The charges read in part,
“That you, Freedom
Barryneh, sometime in August 2015, at about 14.30
hours on Akali Street, Ajegunle, Apapa, Lagos, in
the Apapa Magisterial District, did penetrate
sexually with your penis the privare parts of an
eight-year-old girl, thereby committing an offence
contrary to and punishable under Section 259 of the
Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge before the
presiding magistrate, Mrs. O.A. Adegite, who admitted him
to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like
sum.
While adjourning for March 24, 2016, Adegite added that
the sureties must be gainfully employed and must present
to the court evidence of tax payments.
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