Wow! One of the saddest stories I've read
in a long time. Seems long but is a must
read to the end. I just couldn't cut any
part of it to make it shorter.
According to SunNews, as Kehinde sat
beside her mother with her face radiating
innocence and a protruding tummy,
nothing seems to have changed for
Kehinde Williams, a 12- year old pupil,
allegedly impregnated by four men, who
are father’s tenants. Her guiltless mien as
a child betrayed the worry and anxiety
being expressed by her mother and of
course the society over her predicament.
The four men have been accused of
taking turn to rape her at different times
mostly on her mother’s bed. Three of
them now in prison custody are: Shaibu
Isiaka, 29; John Obah, 30; Vincent 28,
while one Idris, who is also in his late 20s
is on the run.
Shaibu, married and has a child works
with a private security company, while
Idris, also works in another security
company and lives with Shaibu.
The victim’s father died last year January
and her mother, Mrs. Shade Williams, a
petty trader is saddled with the
responsibility of training Kehinde and her
two siblings. They live in Oworonshoki, a
suburb of Lagos State.
Kehinde, a pupil of a public school in the
same neighbourhood has already
registered and preparing for common
entrance examination into one of the
state’s secondary schools when the
bubble burst that she was pregnant.
Unable to control her emotion, with tears
strolling down her cheeks, Kehinde’s
mother, narrated to Saturday Sun how
she got to know that her 12- year old
daughter was pregnant.
According to her, she thought it was a
dream and when it finally dawned on her
that it wasn’t a dream, she felt that the
world was collapsing on her.
As a petty trader she leaves home
between 8 and 9 am daily and returns
between 7 and 8pm and so couldn’t
notice the physiological development and
changes in her daughter that suggested
that she was pregnant. According to her,
two women who are their neighbours
drew her attention and asked her to ask
Kehinde some questions.
To her, this unsolicited advice sounded
bizarre and was almost peeved on why
her neighbours should think in that
direction, with a suspicion that they
wanted to make a mockery of her.
According to her:
“I didn’t notice the change but had
observed that her buttocks were
getting fatter and I thought the
food she was eating has started
manifesting in her adding some
flesh. Apart from the food she was
eating at home, whenever she was
going to school, I used to give her
much money so that she would not
be interested in what other pupils
were buying or eating. I do
everything to make her happy and
comfortable. Nothing like
pregnancy ever came to my mind; I
never imagined such because each
time I asked her the last time she
saw her monthly menstrual period,
she told me, ‘last month.”
Based on this suggestion from our
neigbhours, the following morning I
asked her to urinate into a cup and
I took the urine sample to medical
laboratory and the result was
positive – that she was pregnant
and I took her for pregnancy scan
and the scan revealed that she was
already six months pregnant and I
nearly collapsed.”
The cat let out of the bag
When the scale had fallen off Mrs
Williams’s eyes and it was well
established that she would soon be a
grand mother, she asked Kehinde who
was responsible for the pregnancy.
The beleaguered woman said she was
thrown aback when her daughter opened
up and started mentioning the names of
their tenants as people who have violated
her.
She said:
“Kehinde mentioned Shaibu Isiaka,
who is working with a security
company and because of the
uniform, the neighbourhood
mistakes him for a policeman. He is
married and has a child; he is now
in prison custody. She also
mentioned Idris, who lives with
Shaibu in one room apartment, and
also works in another security
company. When the bubble burst,
Idris ran away and we have been to
his work place and we were told he
has not reported for duty for some
days. She also mentioned John
Obah and Vincent Amaechi.
All of them except Idris are in
prison custody as we speak because
we had to get them arrested and
charged while we wait for the
outcome of the case. I don’t know
why these people should bath me
with hot water mixed with pepper.
Even when my husband was alive
and now, these tenants are treated
as members of the family. I usually
help Shaibu’s wife with food and
money. Sometimes when they don’t
have anything to eat, the woman
would come to me and I would give
her some food items and money.
See how they have treated me.
My daughter told me that these
men were raping her on my bed
and their houses countless times.
Immediately she comes back from
school, if Shaibu or Idris was off
duty, they would come to my room
and start molesting her on my
matrimonial bed. For John and
Vincent, one would go and after
having his turn, he would tell the
other to go that she would not tell
her mother. That was how they
defiled my daughter for many
months and look at the result.”
The fear of what her mother would do to
her prevented Kehinde from reporting her
bitter experience in the hands of these
men to her mother.
According to her mother:
When I asked Kehinde why she didn’t tell
me when these things were going on, she
said she was afraid of what I would do to
her since I was always warning her not to
allow any man to touch her; that any day
a man touches her and she gets pregnant
that I would throw her out of the house;
that she refused to tell me because she
doesn’t have any where to go if I carry
out my threat of throwing her out of the
house.”
Saturday Sun asked Kehinde why she
didn’t tell her mother; she corroborated
what her mother said. According to her,
her mother was always saying what she
would do to her if any man touches her
and “ I was afraid.”
Not knowing that her current status is a
hindrance to her education, she was very
eager to go back to school and play with
her peers.
By the time she is delivered of the baby,
the family is now banking on a DNA test
to determine who among the four men is
the father of the baby.
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