A woman, Ifeyinwa Ezukamma, was allegedly kicked out of her matrimonial home by her husband and his family, for insisting on justice for her 8-year-old daughter, raped by her tenant.

Speaking to newsmen, the mother of five said the incident took place in their village, Ogidi, Idemili North Council Area of Anambra State.

According to Ezukamma, she caught the 57-year-old tenant in the act on July 23, 2020. Upon enquiry, her daughter revealed that the suspect had been violating her daughter since March.

“I noticed an unusual noise and movement in the bathroom. So out of curiosity, I went to check if everything was normal, to my amazement, it was a tenant in our house, an old man was having sex with my daughter. I called my daughter and asked her what happened, she said the old man had been raping her for some months and had threatened to kill her if she told anybody about it, that was why she did not tell me,” she said.

Ezukamma alleged her husband collected money to withdraw the case from the police and warned her not to pursue the matter because it would bring disgrace to their family. She refused and went on to report the matter to an NGO, Child Right Brigade International (CRIB) after the suspect was arrested, detained, and later granted bail.

"It was my insistence to pursue this matter that led to my husband and his family asking me to leave my matrimonial home, taking my children away from me. I said I will not collect money to stop pursuing justice for my little daughter that was raped,“ she said.

However, the father of the victim, Mr Alex Ekukamma, who confirmed the rape incident to newsmen, denied collecting any money, saying that he is a pagan and would never touch such money. He said his family was not in support of the wife’s insistence for prosecution because of the shame it would bring to the family and the stigma it would leave on his daughter.

“She disobeyed me, and my elders and junior ones order not to drag our family name into the mud, and the shame it will bring to us and our daughter, that is why I asked her to leave my house. My wife can go to any length she wishes, but our name must not be involved,” he said.

Meanwhile, preliminary reports from Iyi-Enu Mission Hospital, Ogidi, where the child was taken to on Aug. 4 and examined, confirmed that there was penetration.

The document signed by Dr. Madubuike Chinelo said the history was suggestive of sexual abuse.

“The episode had happened up to five times prior to the most recent encounter. The examination done in the presence of a chaperon showed there was hyperemia of the vaginal mucosa, no obvious vaginal discharge, and a hymen, that had already been tampered with, the client was placed on some drugs for the vaginitis,” it stated.

Confirming the incident, Coordinator of CRIB in Anambra, Obiora Nnaemeka, vowed that the suspect will be charged to court and prosecuted. He also alleged that the father of the victim collected some money to withraw the case from the police.

Nnaemeka said the organization had written the Divisional Police Officer at Ogidi Station, CPC Remigious Ekuri, to effect the arrest of the suspect and the child's father. 

This, he said, would serve as a deterrent for other would-offenders and stem the tide of rising cases of rape and pedophilia in the country.

CSP Ekuri, who  confirmed the incident said the matter would be charged to court as soon as the medical report was available.