Girl Drags Stepfather To Police Station Over Rape, Since Mother Won’t Do Anything About It

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 42-year-old
cleric, Pastor Chidiebere Ikpa, for allegedly raping his stepdaughter, Ngozi
(pseudonym), in the Surulere area of the state.

Ikpa, who denied the allegation, told Punch Metro that it
was a neighbour, whom he identified only as Richard, that defiled the
14-year-old girl, but he decided not to report the matter to the police because
he (Ikpa) had a forgiving character.

However, Ngozi, a Senior Secondary class 2 pupil, who
eventually reported the incident to the police last Friday, January 15,
insisted that she was raped by the pastor on several occasions.

She added that whenever she told her mother about it, she
usually shouted her down, and refused to take any action on the matter. A Punch
correspondent learnt that Ikpa, who hails from the Bende Local Government Area
of Abia State, was arrested by policemen from the Isokoko division, while Ngozi
was taken for medical examination at the Mirabel Centre, Ikeja.

The test reportedly confirmed that the girl’s private parts
had been “tampered with.”

A police source told Punch Metro that Ngozi reported that
Ikpa had allegedly been sleeping with her since she was 10 years old and was
the one who deflowered her.

She said, “The victim claimed that the suspect deflowered
her when she was 10 years. He had allegedly been s3xually molesting the girl
since that time. The victim’s mother is culpable because she knew about the
abuses. The girl said it was when her mother failed to take concrete steps that
she came to the police.”

Speaking with Punch Metro, the pastor said he flogged the
girl last Thursday and she disappeared from the house, not knowing she came to
the police to lie against him. He said, “The girl started living with me when
she was 12 or thereabout. That was around 2012. It is not true that I raped
her. I flogged her on Thursday for being rude and she did not return home after
school. We did not see her until Friday. She had been with the police.

“The girl has a boyfriend; his name is Richard. He is the
manager of a hotel on Rasak Balogun Street. If the medical result shows someone
has been sleeping with Ngozi, then it is Richard, not me.

“It is a mystery to me that the girl is claiming that I
slept with her. When we caught Richard and confronted him sometime last year,
he started begging. The mistake I made was that I did not report to the police.
My wife got furious and said we must report the matter to the police, but the
man started begging, sending text messages to me. I forgave him. I am a pastor.
I was working under a church, but since I moved to this area, I have not
pastored any church.”

The victim, Ngozi, told Punch that Ikpa was lying and he had
slept with her on several occasions. She said, “The first time that he would
rape me was about five years ago. My mother sent me to give food to him in his
own house. I was then staying in my father’s house. That was when he took
advantage of me and raped me.

“The man he mentioned is not my boyfriend. Richard was the
man I reported to when I told my mother about the rape and she did not believe
me. Richard advised me to leave everything to God. Sometimes, when everyone was
sleeping, he would come to the room where I was with my other sisters and he
would rape me. I would be hitting my sisters trying to wake them, but they did
not wake at such times.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo
Badmos, confirmed the pastor’s arrest. She said, “The pastor’s arrest is
confirmed. He was transferred from FESTAC to the Isokoko division for
prosecution.”