When I entered the building, I was sure the flat was on the last floor, should have called her aunty! I thought, anyways I hope they are home. These thoughts went through my mind as I made my way up the stairs. ‘’Aah! these stairs are long o!’’ I said with a sigh of relief as I got to the last floor. I looked at the two opposite doors, now I was not sure which exact flat it was! They both had burglary proof doors, one was padlocked the other was open. I really should have called! Let me just ring and ask. I rang the bell and in about ten seconds, someone was opening it.
” Good afternoon” I said with a faint smile “I’m looking for Ose she is staying with her aunty”.
‘’ok ok’’ the guy said with a little hesitation,” come in and sit down, she’s in the room let me go call her”.
I stepped into the flat and sat down I was just happy that i was going to see Ose again, maybe we will go to Shoprite. Just then, I heard men talking in hushed tones. The next thing, two guys come out, the one who opened the door and a darker guy who looked older. The younger entered into a room I assumed to be the kitchen, the older guy came to sit close to me, that’s when I started getting worried.
” Good afternoon sir” I muttered, quite unsure of what to say next, I have it the other guy suddenly said. My heart skipped a bit and I looked up to see him standing with a matchbox. I turned to look at the one sitting by me; he says calmly “if you shout we will set your hair on fire”,
At that moment, my head already erupts in an inferno; I could just see my future crumbling down. Not today! Not today!! my mind screamed, it was New years day! Not today!!! My mind kept screaming when the reality of what they were going to do dawned on me...
I was devastated, I am mourning the loss of me, which those two guys took in the space of 5mins which continued for about two hours and some minutes, I instantly became numb, I was bleeding, I just wished that I’d bleed to death....How can i go one living with these memories, this scar, NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, this is not my story, I just tried to put myself in the girl’s shoes, but I can’t. I am deeply saddened by the turn of things; this is something I thought about for hours, days and weeks.
Anyways, this is what we heard happened,
My older sister shares a flat with an older woman whom we call our aunty but we have no blood relation to her. The rest of us stay there anytime we are in Lagos and its in Victoria island. Well my aunt’s younger sister had come to stay with her for the hols, we will call her Ose, Ose had just finished secondary school and came down to Lagos from Warri, her friend also had done the same thing, they met up in church on the 30th and they exchanged addresses.
Ose’s friend decided to pay a visit on New Year’s Day, I really don’t know if Ose and my aunty knew the girl was coming. The girl came to the block to visit around 3pm on that day and left at about 6pm.
Really I have tried playing this scene in my mind over and over, constructing and deconstructing, I don’t know how hot a girl she was, that the first thing that came to these guys mind was rape, how could any sane person see someone for the first time and in secs just think I must rape this girl! ooh! I can’t grasp it at all!
Well, the brother in the room was the older one and they both came out, the younger one went to the kitchen, got a match, they told the girl to keep shut and if she shouted they would burn her braids, they tied her mouth and hand.
The gory ordeal lasted for about 3hrs, the two guys, brothers, I can’t even believe they still managed to wear protection! No sense of human feelings, the girl was just seventeen! After the whole thing, they taunted her and chased her out of the house, she ran down the stairs and out of the compound into the street, she went to the mallam that sells stuff opposite our building, and tried narrating the whole thing to him, she had already started bleeding.
I don’t know how she managed to get to her sisters place, but her sister took her to the hospital, obtained a doctor’s report and they came back early in the morning on the second of January, with police men, looking for the guys. The guys went into hiding at the boys quarters and they even told the security men not to tell the police where they were, the older brother was apparently a big boy, he had a spanking ride and worked in an oil company, he went as far as to tell the security at his company to tell any policeman looking for him that there was no Chris working in that office.
It was amidst this commotion in our compound that my aunty even got to know what happened, she was devastated, Ose was out of her mind, the girl i just feel for her, such pain, such scar, on a day no one in this world forgets, January 1st.
Throughout that day, the guys were nowhere to be found, their flat was heavily locked. These are guys who never lacked chicks in their house , I have seen with my two eyes quite a number trooping in and out of their flat, we always used to wonder who the guys were, if we saw them on the stair case, it was a very cold greeting we gave or none at all!
This was so unbelievable. Well my aunty called my sister all the way in SA and she was ready to jump from SA all the way back to Naija! I don’t know how to describe our emotions; My immediate older sister was in the flat, my aunty, her sister and two of our cousins, they were keeping watch trying to look out for the guys. We in SA were calling them back and forth trying to get updates.
The breakthrough came that same day, the 2nd of Jan when one of my cousin’s was in the kitchen washing plates and looking out of the window for the guys, she saw the older guys car parked outside the compound at about 9pm, the gates were open, this was very strange. She peeped out of the door and saw the guys packing stuff from their house trying to sneak out, she told the rest of the household, they flew down the stairs and pounced on the guys, my sister was very vicious slapping the guys heads and all,
The guys had some friend there, those ones were shouting and saying there was no case, this and that! Apparently the guys had told their friends lies, when the police, the girl and her sister came that night, they all began to confess. The police arrested them! What a relief !
But the surprising thing now is that the girl’s parents have decided not to press charges, I can’t imagine this. I know jailing the guys won’t cause the events to be reversed, but i believe they should be taught a lesson because we learnt that they had raped other girls before right there in that house. However, nobody was concerned because the girls followed them to their house. I’m really pained about this, but I know forgiveness is better than resentment or hatred.
All I pray about in all this is for God to comfort her, so she does not end up hating guys, turning lesbian, promiscuous or even frigid. It is a very hard experience and I pray for strength for her. For the guys they have to go for deliverance!
Why is rape such an understated crime? It’s extremely horrible, nerve shattering and could lead to death! Why is this so downplayed in Nigeria! No one wants to even talk about it.
When I read some peoples blogs and stories, my heart breaks, I cant imagine people have gone these sort of things in huge numbers, My own personal experience on this is zilch, I only thank God for His grace, He has a plan for our life that’s what I firmly believe
My heart goes out to anyone that has experienced such abuse. I really can’t understand how it must have felt. I do know one thing that if you would just try to open your heart and allow Gods love fill you, it may seem like He after all allowed it happen, but you would be surprised at the plans He has for you. Let Gods peace flood your life, there’s hope for tomorrow your alive! Let God lift you above it all. There is nothing that can capture or express how much love I have for you guys!
I know one thing for Sure! Jesus loves you!
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The anaconda!
