R*pe stories in Opi, a community in the university town of Nsukka, have been a reoccurring thing. Even old women between 70 and 80 years are not spared by rapists masquerades in the area.
Few months after the Chairman of Nsukka Local Government Area, Mr. Tony Ugwu settled the last rape case, masquerades again took turn to rape a 28-year-old undergraduate nursing mother (pictured above).
The victim told Crime Alert in tears that the trauma of the rape will forever live with her but stated that she had forgiven the rapists. She however condemned the release of one of the suspects on the flimsy excuse that he was going to write his JAMB and the manner in which her case was not taken seriously by the police, attributing it to the fact that her family is poor and helpless.
Below is her story:
It happened on March 21, 2012. There were three masquerades that day but two were spotted and people started running. I was going to fetch water and as people were running, I equally ran and hid somewhere until the two masquerades passed. After the masquerades passed, I came out and continued with my journey.
Soon, I heard a child saying that another masquerade was coming. I didn’t see the masquerade but people were running and I ran to enter into someone’s house.
The masquerade emerged from a corner (apiam way) and pushed me into the building where I was running to. I tried to escape but could not.
It caught up with me and started beating me. What surprised me was that the masquerade said it has been looking for me for long and had now caught up with me. I sought to know what I did to deserve such treatment and at the same time pleading for forgiveness but it continued with its threat.
This time, it swore to take me to a bigger masquerade inside the forest, saying it has been long I had been insulting them. My cries for help and that I was a nursing a baby fell on deaf ears. As the masquerade was dragging me along, a man with wrapper came and pleaded with the masquerade to leave me but it refused, saying that I have insulted them for too long.
It insisted on taking me to the bigger masquerade which will compel my clan to bring a cow as sacrifice.
The masquerade dragged me to a bush path, threw me on the ground fell on me. It held me on the neck to prevent me from shouting and blocked both my eyes and nose. At this stage, I nearly lost consciousness until one man came and rescued me from its grip. He removed the face of the masquerade and that was how he was identified. As soon as he was identified, he ran away.
More people gathered there and helped to take me where I was given first aid treatment at a chemist before I was taken to St. Joseph Hospital, Opi. I didn’t know when I was taken to the hospital. When I started gaining consciousness, I did not see my pant and my bra was torn. It was then I realised that the masquerade raped me. Fear gripped me that the masquerade may have transmitted HIV/AIDS into me.
While I was still recuperating, the mother of the suspected person in the masquerade came and pleaded that his son should be forgiven. I told his mother that I have forgiven him. What annoyed me most was that some of his relations which included a policeman that works in Enugu, returned home and instead of sympathizing with me, they took sides in favor of their brother. At a stage, I was forced to go to the police station to close the case.