How driver allegedly raped 5-month- old pregnant lady

The decision of a 22-year-old five-months pregnant lady, Latifat, to go and see her ailing mother in their hometown in Igboho, Oyo State on Wednesday June 22, 2011 landed in a kind of embarrassment she could never have imagined for herself. With her protruding tummy which was clear to any discerning eye was not as a result of overfeeding but an indication of her pregnant state, Latifat was allegedly raped by the driver that brought her from Ibadan to Saki, one Quazeem Tajudeen.LatifatLatifat had boarded her suspected assailant’s car at Sango motor park in Ibadan. The vehicle left Ibadan around 9p.m. and it was gathered that the driver arrived Saki around midnight and since Latifat was still going to another town, she asked for the direction to a police station where she felt she would be secured for the night but the driver allegedly deceived her into believing there was none around.Quazeem had reportedly offered to take her home to his wife and Latifat was happy, unknown to her that the driver had another plan in mind. Quazeem allegedly took the pregnant lady to an obscure, bushy place and had sexual intercourse with Latifat against her will, despite pleas from her. To add salt to injury, The lady’s N16,500 and two-sim mobile phone also allegedly disappeared while she was with the driver!However, believing in justice being done, Latifat kept herself from betraying any emotion until the driver returned her to where she felt she could seek help, and this she did not hesitate to do as she  propmtly reported the alleged sexual assault to the police at Saki Division. The Divisional Police Officer, Mohammed Suleiman Baba, a superintendent of police, quickly sent some detectives after the accused and he was arrested and taken to the station for interrogation.Narrating her experience to Sunday Tribune in an emotion-laden voice, the victim said “My name is Latifat Nurudeen. I am 22 years old. This is my first pregnancy.  I have been working in Lagos as a househelp to a couple and that was how I met the young man I am pregnant for. The couple I am working for were very considerate as they still allowed me to continue working for them. When the rape incident occurred, I was on  my way to Igboho in Oke Ogun area to see my mum  whom I was told had developed mental illness. Since we had no one taking care of us since my father’s death and I am the first born of my parents’ three children, I decided to go and check on her to see what could be done.“I left Lagos around 4p.m. for Ibadan on Wednesday June 22. I decided to break the journey to make it faster because Saki vehicle usually takes some time to get filled up in Lagos. Unfortunately, the bus from Lagos broke down along Lagos-Ibadan expressway and could only be repaired around 6.30p.m. We got to Ibadan around 8p.m. I went to Sango motor park and I was fortunate to see a vehicle going to Saki. We left Ibadan around 9p.m. and got to Saki around 12 midnight.“As I got down in Saki, I asked the driver to direct me to the police station in town where I could sleep but he replied that there was no police station in Saki. He then offered to take me to his wife so that I could stay with his family. I was happy within me, believing he was God-sent. I later became confused when I saw he was driving through a bushy road but I was not familiar with Saki. As we got to a particular place that was bushy and uninhabited, he stopped, got down from the driver’s seat and came to meet me at the middle seat of the station wagon where I sat.“He just barked at me, saying ‘look here, woman, I hope you are okay’ warning me to cooperate with him. Immediately, I knelt down and told him to consider my pregnant state, in addition to the belief among the Yorubas that any man who sleeps with a pregnant woman who is not his wife would remain impoverish in life until the baby grows up to become someone important .  I was so afraid in the bush as we dragged the issue between us.“At a time, he just held my pants and tight, tore them and raped me on the seat in the middle of the station wagon car. By then, I could not  struggle with him because we were alone. After he finished, he ordered me out of the car and I started begging him, pleading that I would pay for an hotel if he could get me one to stay for the day to break. He agreed after then, saying that that was the cooperation he expected from me. I was praying inwardly that he wouldn’t have connived with some people to do me any evil.“He told me we were going to stay the night together. I didn’t  refuse because I did not want him to drop me among unknown people. He took me to an hotel and we were told the cost was N2,000. I paid N1,000 and told him to pay the remaining half. As we were in the room, he made advances towards me again but I told him I would shout. He then left me alone. I slept on the floor and was unable to do the Islamic prayer (nafilat) I used to do in the midnight due to my unclean state ( the forced sexual intercourse). I was just weeping because even my fiance whom I am pregnant for has not slept with me for two months by then.“At day break around 5a.m., I checked my bag and could not find my two-sim handset and N16,500 I put in my bag. I asked him and he just shouted at me that I should not utter such nonsense concerning him. I kept quiet, just waiting for the time he would take me out of the hotel since I was not familiar with the town. I appealed to him to take me to where I could get a vehicle to Igboho and he did. As we got there, I pretended as if I wanted to eat and approached an okada rider to take me to the nearest police station.  I narrated what happened to the police and they followed me to arrest him. We met him because he never thought I could take that step, moreso that he knew I was not familiar with the town. He has not been able to tell the police where he kept the handset and the money”.However, the driver, Quazeem Tajudeen denied the allegation, saying he only tried to help the woman. He added that they just slept in his car till day break and he did not rape her. Speaking with Sunday Tribune, Quazeem, a 29-year-old man who said he had been driving for the past three years and plies Ibadan-Saki road, revealed that he was married but had no child yet. Quazeem also denied being the driver who brought the pregnant lady to Saki from Ibadan. Though a muslim, Quazeem swore by the god of iron to prove that he was saying saying the truth.According to Quazeem, “when I came to Saki from Ibadan on  that Wednesday around 11.30p.m. There was a message to someone in Saki from Ibadan and I called the person. The person came to meet me at Sango junction in Saki and after delivering the message, I made to enter the vehicle, and the lady in question approached me. She told me she was going to Kisi. I told her it was late. She asked for a nearby mosque     and I told her she could not sleep in the mosque. I would have taken her home but my wife might not take it lightly with me because she has not been able to get pregnant and seeing a pregnant woman with me might arouse unwarranted suspicion. My wife even reacts whenever she sees unknown number calling my phone.“She was with me for about 30 minutes and I was thinking of what to do. Though we have guest room at the motor park, the NURTW crisis has not allowed any one to move into the park. She then asked for what I could do to help her and I told her she could sleep on the middle seat in the car while I would sleep on the driver’s seat. We slept in the car and the next morning, I took her back to Sango junction in Saki. I asked her what she was doing in Lagos and she told me was helping someone to take care of her children at Mile 2 in Lagos.“I told her I wanted to leave and I asked her of her phone. That was when she said she could not find her phone. While we were talking, someone walked past and asked of the torchlight he gave her the night before when she asked the person about how to get to Igboho. She dipped her hand into her bag and returned the torchlight and the person left. After that, she told me she wanted to eat and took N200 from her bag to eat. I thought she went to eat, only to see her return with the police who asked me to follow them to the station.“She showed the tights and pants that were torn and accused me of raping her and stealing her money and handset. When I was checked, the money on me was not up to  what she claimed. I only had N5,000 with me. How could I have slept with someone who was evidently pregnant? If we need to go traditional to seek solution to this puzzle, I am ready, so that we will know who is saying the truth and who is not.”Police sources however told Sunday Tribune that the suspect’s wife confirmed that her husband did not come home that night to sleep. She reportedly told the police that her husband had called her on the said day to tell her that he was in Ibadan and would not be coming to Saki until the next day, unknown to her that her husband was already in Saki. The victim, on hearing the narration of the suspect, described him as a liar, saying she was ready to swear with the holy Quran to confirm what she said happened to her. “Have you ever seen an armed robber caught with a gun admit being a robber?”, Latifat asked rhetorically.One of those at the police station who was listening to the victim’s narration also insinuated that the driver’s act could be diabolical since he was still waiting for his wife to conceive. “He could have been told by a herbalist to sleep with a pregnant woman in a bush if he wanted a child”, the man said.Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Mr Baba Adisa Bolanta, has said that the case would be thoroughly investigated while the police await the medical report from the State Hospital, Saki where the victim was referred to medical examination. Mr Bolanta added that the csae would be charged to court thereafter.CULLED FROM : NIGERIAN TRIBUNE