Forty five-year-old Taiwo Bakare,
probably had nursed his sinister idea
for a while. But on Monday, November
10, 2013, he decided to put his plan
into action.
When the mother of 10-year-old
Blessing (not real name) had left the
shop where she sells petty goods on
Unity Street, Egan area of Igando,
Lagos, Bakare, who is a landlord on the
street, walked up to the shop where
the girl tended to her mother’s wares.
Under the pretext of buying
something, he took the girl to his
house – a small bungalow at No 45 at
the end of the long street – and defiled
her.
No one saw anything. No one heard a
noise that evening on the street as
Bakare allegedly carried out his
heinous crime. But as soon as
Blessing’s mother returned to the
shop, she knew something was amiss
because her daughter was walking
awkwardly.
“I asked my daughter what happened
to her. I pleaded with her to tell me.
She then told me that he (Bakare)
came to buy something at the shop
when I was not around and took her
home and slept with her,” the
distraught woman told the police.
Blessing reportedly told her mother
and the police that she did not know
what happened after Bakare bought
what he came for at the shop. She said
what she knew next was that he was
on top of her in his house.
The girl’s mother did not waste time in
reporting to the Igando Police Division,
where the Divisional Police Officer, Mr.
Ben Osuji, drafted some of his men to
apprehend the suspect.
“As soon as the suspect saw
policemen, he fled and ran into a canal
in the area. That was where we
arrested him,” a police source told
Saturday PUNCH.
During interrogation at the station,
Bakare blamed the usual suspect – the
devil – for his crime.
According to a statement he made at
the police station, he said he did not
know what came over him when he
took the little child home and slept
with her.
“I have four children but they are not
living with me. My wife is not living
with me as well. I would not pray for
something like this to happen to my
child because my last child is 10 years
old. I cannot pray for something like
this to happen to her. The devil made
me do it,” he said.
Bakare, a well built-man with a slight
‘pot belly’, could not deny the crime
but the life of the small girl seemed to
have been changed forever.
The police did not reveal the address
of the victim’s family on the street in
order to protect her.
When our correspondent visited Unity
Street, it was noticeably a very quiet
neighbourhood in the interior part of
Igando, Lagos.
The residents revealed that Bakare is
the Secretary of the landlord
association of the street.
The suspect’s house, a barely finished
two bedroom bungalow, where he
allegedly carried out his crime, is solely
inhabited by him, a neighbour said.
“There was no sign that he could do
something like that. In fact, I have
never thought that he could be
promiscuous let alone raping a small
girl. We were shocked when the police
came for him,” the young lady said.
A landlord two houses away from
Bakare’s, gave a similar opinion of the
suspect.
He said there had never been a sign
that he was capable of raping a minor
and there had never been any
allegation of such act on the street.
“He lives alone but could we have
appointed him secretary of the
association if we knew he was a
dangerous man? Nobody has alleged
rape here before unless they refused
to report it. Let him go and defend
himself in the court,” he said.
The police at Igando said the 45-year-
old father of four was being held on
charge of defilement as they have also
taken the victim for medical
examination in an undisclosed
hospital.
Saturday PUNCH was told he would
soon be charged to court.
However, Child Rights Activist, Mrs.
Esther Ogwu, said it was simply
“traumatic” to hear of such allegation
of someone of Bakare’s age.
She laid some of the blame of the
crime on the doorstep of the victim’s
parents.
Ogwu said, “My opinion is that many
parents are becoming very careless
about the way they leave their children
to the mercy of strangers on the
streets.
“We need to remember that children
are not like adults. They can easily be
deceived by guile. If a child for
example goes hungry, no one can say
what a stranger with a mere N50 can
do to such a child.
“Many things cause a child to be
sexually exploited. It is really annoying
because that girl has simply been
traumatised.”
She advised that the girl should be
made to go through counselling,
adding that the parents needed to
relocate from the area in order to
prevent stigmatisation by those who
may hear about the case.


http://www.punchng.com/feature/saturday-crime/my-last-child-is-10-but-devil-pushed-me-to-rape-10-year-old-girl-suspect/

If well investigated,this man must have been doing this for a long time. This is so shameful and I wonder why the devil is always at blame.

waleadex: If well investigated,this man must have been doing this for a long time. This is so shameful and I wonder why the devil is always at blame.

Due to the fact that his wife does not stay with him