From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Residents of Enuoji village, Enugwu-Ukwu community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State woke up one early morning to hear the disgusting story of Mr Thomas Igbo, 48, who was caught defiling his three underage daughters.
Thomas, who hails from Ikolo community in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, lives in Enugwu-Ukwu with his young family where he plies his plumbing trade.
Although the three girls were just aged eight, four and 18 months respectively, their randy father, Thomas, defied all moral codes to plunge himself into their tiny, fragile thighs in search of pleasure and comfort.
Currently in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), the suspect would know what the law holds for him as soon as the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) calls off their strike and the courts reopen.
A Non-Governmental Organization, SAFENEST, which took the matter to the NSCDC, told Sunday Sun that it learnt about the ugly development from the suspect’s neighbour.
Executive Director of SAFENEST, Mrs Oluchukwu Chukwuenyem, told Sunday Sun that Thomas’ neighbour reported to them that she had seen him a number of times defiling the girls.
Chukwuenyem, who is also the representative of Child Protection Network (CPN), said that on getting the unpleasant report, her group traced the victims to their schools where they got confirmation of the allegations from the two of the children.
She said that her organization equally took the girls to Enugwu-Ukwu General Hospital for medical examinations. According to her, the doctor’s report confirmed that the girls had been penetrated several times.
“We got a report that one Mr Thomas has defiled his daughters and has consistently been having carnal knowledge of them. The man lives in Enugwu-Ukwu community.
“So, we called the security operatives to help us arrest the man and interrogate him on the allegations levelled against him.
“The woman that drew our attention to this told us that she had caught him a number of times; that he had been doing that. She told us that he usually did that at night.
“She narrated that the man often took them to the bathroom and sometimes to the bush. She said that she had heard him ask the eldest girl, who is just eight years old, if she enjoyed it.
“The story we were told was disgusting and that was why we quickly swung into action. We went to their school and had a chat with the eight-year-old girl. She confirmed to us that her father had violated her and that he had been doing that for a long time.
“We took her to the hospital, Ntasi Centre for Sexual Assault Cases in Enugwu-Ukwu General Hospital. She was examined by the doctor and it was discovered that she had been violated.
“We also interacted with the one that is four years old and she told us that their father has also had carnal knowledge of her. The other one is just one year and six months and as such could not say anything.
“However, the doctor’s report showed that she had been violated, but the opening was not much. He only used his fingers on that one”, she narrated.
Chukwuenyem said that if not for the JUSUN’s strike, the suspect would have been at the court answering to his alleged crime.
She appealed to good spirited individuals to support the efforts being made to rehabilitate the girls.
“He is supposed to be taken to the court so that if he’s found guilty, he would be punished accordingly. But unfortunately, judiciary workers are still on strike. If this man is released, he would go back to those children and continue from where he had stopped.
“We are appealing to the relevant authorities to help us out because those children deserve justice. They also need to be rehabilitated.
“Had it been we have a special place for children in this kind of circumstance, we would have taken them straight to the place and given them proper care they deserve; give them quality food and others. But we don’t have such facility”, she stated.
Speaking further, Chukwuenyem labelled the children’s mother as an accomplice as according to her, she was aware of her husband’s evil acts, but chose to cover it up before it was busted by their neighbour.
“We later discovered that his wife knew about the evil acts but she covered it up. We are pained about it. We are even more saddened by the fact that there is little we can do about this ugly situation. All we could do is this one we have done.
“We appeal to mothers to always pay attention to their children, especially the female ones. There is a need for sexual education. Children need to know about their body parts and where they must not allow anybody to touch”, she stated.
The suspect, Thomas, who had been married for eight years, while fielding questions from newsmen, confessed that he had defiled his eldest daughter but denied having carnal knowledge of the other two.
“The allegation against me is true because I have had sex with my first daughter. But I didn’t touch the smaller ones. I didn’t use them. The one I used is the eldest daughter”, Thomas confessed.
Told that the doctor’s report confirmed that the other two had been defiled, he said: “I don’t know about that.”
The suspect, who didn’t show any remorse while being interviewed, was however quick to heap blame on his consumption of an alcoholic beverage. He claimed that the alcohol he took influenced him badly.
“I was drunk. And this doctor’s report which also claimed that a series of penetrations had taken place in the private parts of my daughters, I mean the other younger two, I don’t know about that. What I know is that I have only used the eldest one. And I did that only once,” he admitted.
The eldest of the girls, in her recorded narrations obtained by Sunday Sun, revealed how her father defiled her. Although she was not comprehensive in her narrations, she confirmed that their father had played roughly with them.
“He inserts his penis into my vagina and he has done that a number of times. He also puts his fingers into my vagina”, she confirmed.
Asked her reaction whenever her father violated her, she said: “I often told him to stop doing that to me but he would not listen. He also inserts his fingers into my younger sisters’ vaginas.”
Asked why she didn’t tell someone about it until the evil act was blown up by their neighbour, she said: “I was scared.”
The state commandant of NSCDC, Mr David Billie, said that the suspect was arrested by his men on May 24 this year through an intelligence led operation at about 4:00p.m. He said the suspect would be charged to court as soon as JUSUN calls off its industrial action.