A 14-year-old girl, (names withheld) on Tuesday at a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Kubwa, an Abuja suburb, gave graphic details of how she was brutally raped by her grandfather’s caregiver, Godwin Onuminya, aged 21.
The victim, a Junior Secondary School (JSS3) student, resident in Kubwa, narrated her unpleasant experience while being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Adama Musa, in the trial of Godwin who is being prosecuted by the police on a one-count charge of rape.
“While trying to wear my trouser, Onuminya, hurriedly entered my room and held my leg, I tried to shout, but he covered my mouth and nose, thereby suffocating me. I hit him with my left elbow, then he pushed me on the bed, I struggled with him and heard a crack on my neck while he twisted it, and I fell unconscious”.
She said the incident occurred at about 1.pm on November 4, 2019, shortly after she returned home from school, and later found herself at the Pison Hospital, Kubwa where she regained consciousness and saw Godwin and her uncle, Joseph James, standing beside her.
“I felt pains on my neck, private part and all over my body. The nurses asked me if I could remember what happened, then Onuminya winked at me and signaled me with his hands to keep quiet. I noticed blood on my pant and pink trousers and I saw a drip on my hand, so I asked the nurses why I was bleeding from my private part and they confirmed that I was raped”.
The victim further said she was referred to Police Hospital, Dei-dei, where she was examined by a doctor and her blood samples taken. Thereafter, she was taken home by a relative and wrote her statement at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), FCT Command on Nov. 5.
The prosecution counsel, during cross examination, asked the girl where the blood stained underwear and trouser were and how many people were in her house when she was raped.
In response, the girl said her underwear and trouser were with the police, adding that her grandfather and Onuminya were the only people at home. “My grandfather had a mild stroke in 2018 and needed assistance to walk, so Godwin assists him,” she explained.
The presiding judge, Justice Kezziah Ogbonnaya adjourned the matter till June 17 for continuation of trial.
