A 53-year-old livestock dealer, Bala Osoro, has been apprehended for allegedly raping a 12-year-old primary school girl.
The livestock dealer admitted that raped the minor. He indicated that he lured and sexually abused her after threatening her with a knife at Ungwar-Kura street in Lokoja LGA of Kogi State
“I saw her in front of my house when I called her to help me fetch water from a well.
Having fetched the water, I lured her into my room where I had sex with her. The devil pushed me into the act.
“I am sorry to have engaged in such an act with a little girl, I promise never to repeat such act again, please forgive me,” Osoro said while being paraded by operatives of the Kogi State Vigilante Service.
In her narration, the victim’s mother said the girl was sent to buy pepper in the morning but did not return home on time.
“I became worried when she did not return home early. I called my stepson and we both went round looking for her because we thought she had been kidnapped. It was during the search that we saw her walking to the house.
“I asked where she had been and she did not respond until my stepson started beating her that she told us where she was. She confessed that a man asked her to help him fetch water from a well. After she helped him, the man dragged her into his room and threatened her with a knife.”
According to the mother, the girl said the man sexually abused her.
The mother disclosed that she reported the matter to officials of the Vigilante Service who arrested the suspect and brought him to their office.
Narrating her ordeal, the victim, name withheld, said that the suspect lured her into his room while she fetched water for him and forcefully had sex with her.
“He called me to help him fetch water from a well near his house, after helping him, he held my hand and told me that we should go and flirt.
“I told him no, but he threatened me with a knife and forcefully dragged me to his room and brought out his male organ and penetrated me.”
When contacted, the Vigilante Service Commander, Musa Ahmodu said that the suspect has been handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for further investigation.
Ahmodu, who decried the rate at which children were being sexually abused at tender age in the Lokoja traditional area, advised parents to desist from allowing their children to hawk. He stressed that street begging and hawking exposes children to all forms of social vices.