Police in Oyo State are currently trying to get to the root of how a teenage girl killed herself after she was raped by a randy man, who took advantage of her while sleeping at night.
The man, simply identified as Ajibode, was alleged to have forced himself on the young girl, whose name was given as Olayemi Agbeloba, a 16-year-old apprentice in fashion and designing with the suspect’s wife.
The incident, which took place in Eruwa community, in the Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State, led the young girl, who was actually said to be living in the same house with her madam and the suspect, to allegedly commit suicide after the incident, apparently unable to withstand the trauma she was undergoing as a result. Ajibola, a welder, was said to have threatened to kill the deceased, whom, apart from her apprenticeship, was also said to be helping the family in their household chores.
After the incident, which took place on June 23, while she was sleeping in a room at the couple’s residence, she was said to have decided to end it all by drinking a substance suspected to be insecticide and died from the effect before help would come.
A distraught Sunday Agbeloba, her father, said to have been inconsolable since the incident, narrated how he has been seeking justice afterwards, saying he had reported the case at the Eruwa Police Station.
The distraught father, lamented a situation where the alleged culprit instead of showing remorse, had boasted that nothing would happen to him after he was arrested by the police, even as he narrated the circumstances that led to the fatal development.
Hear him: “Olayemi went to Ajibode’s wife’s house early this year because my wife and I decided that she should learn handiwork. She had been staying with Ajibode and his wife for about six months and suddenly, we were told that she died.
“Later, we heard Ajibode had raped my daughter after which she drank an insecticide. This was confirmed by medical workers at the hospital she was taken to for treatment after she drank the insecticide. At the hospital, we were also told that before my daughter died, she said Ajibode raped her and that was what made her drink the insecticide.
“I reported the case at the Eruwa Police Station and he was arrested and released. Since then, Ajibode has been claiming that he knows people and that there is nothing we could do to him. He raped my daughter and pushed her to commit suicide and he’s still very confident that he would go scot-free.”
As tears flowed down her cheeks, Folake, Agbola’s mother who had remained inconsolable since, while demanding justice for her daughter, said her daughter once confessed to her that Ajibode usually disturbed her while sleeping at night.
“She once told me that her boss’s husband usually disturbed her at night when she retired to sleep in their house. I wanted to make her come back home but also wanted her to finish her apprenticeship. Look at what they did to my child?”
Asewale Onifeso, Deputy Superintendent of Police and spokesman of Oyo State Police Command, while confirming the development, said: “A case of homicide was reported at the Eruwa Divisional Police Headquarters. It is also more like a case of defilement. However, investigations have been escalated. Further updates would be provided accordingly.”