How I was raped, by lady, 26

Victim

When Yetunde Olayemi left her parents’ house in Sango Ota, Ogun State, three years ago, to live with another woman in Lagos, it was like a dream come true.

Her joy stems from the fact that her madam promised to assist her to complete her secondary education and make her acquire some skills in fashion designing.

Her madam (names withheld) did not disappoint at all. She treated her like her own daughter and trained her in secondary school as well as assisted her to secure a factory job.
But Yetunde’s joy was cut short when a boyfriend of her madam’s niece allegedly raped her.

Since the incident, she had been suffering from psychological trauma as the mother of the alleged rapist has continued to threaten to deal with her if she did not stop the move to reveal what transpired between her and the suspect.

The 26-year-old lady, who spoke to Daily Sun recently, was devastated and those who knew her before the sexual assault said she was now shadow of her old self. Narrating her ordeal at the Child Dignity Foundation, Opebi, Lagos, where she is being rehabilitated, she disclosed that she was alone in the apartment on the fateful day she was raped. According to her, she was in their apartment at Awodiora Estate, Apapa, when the suspect came knocking on the door.


“Bola is boyfriend to my madam’s niece. When my madam and her husband travelled abroad, they left me under the care of her younger sister. She told me to allow Falamade and her boyfriend, Bola, to come inside the house whenever they visited,” she said.She disclosed that since her madam’s younger sister told her to allow her daughter and her fiancé to sleep in the house, she had no option but to oblige.

She narrated how Falamade and her fiancé, were coming to sleep in one of the rooms. “So, when Bola came in, I expected Falamade to come with him but she did not. When I asked him of her whereabouts, he lied to me that she was on her way,” she said.

She also told how she abandoned the room to sleep in the dinning. “But I was shocked when somebody woke me up at about 3.00 am. The person was armed with a knife and warned he would kill me, if I raised the alarm. When I realised it was Bola, I asked him what his problem was and he told me he wanted to sleep with me. I wanted to raise the alarm but he held my neck and threatened to strangle me if I shouted,” she said.

By her account, Bola held her neck to the point of suffocation. “I had to surrender. He pulled off my trouser and started inserting his finger inside my private parts and later raped me. While doing it, he still covered my mouth till he was through with me.”

Yetunde, who thought her problem was over, got more than she bargained for when the suspect gave her a copy of the Bible and forced her to swear on oath not to spill the beans. She said: “He picked up the knife again, pointed it at me and compelled me to swear with the Bible not to tell anyone what transpired between us. For fear of being killed, I took the Bible and swore not to tell anyone.”

After the swearing, the suspect thought she would not disclose the rape incident. “He repeatedly warned that the oath would work against me, if I tried to reveal it. He seized the key to the door and went inside the bathroom to bath and I used the opportunity to search for the spare key, which I used to open the door. That was how I ran downstairs to alert other neighbours.” But before neighbours could rush to the scene, he had escaped. “He jumped into another compound, through the back door,” she said.

However, the suspect’s legs could not take him too far as he was arrested at about 6.30 am, when he was about boarding a bus. Bola was detained before he was charged to the court and was granted bail. According to the victim, she decided to run to Child Dignity Foundation for protection as the suspect, his fiancé and her mother had been threatening to deal with her if she did not drop the charge against him.

She said: “Falamade and her mother have warned me not to tarnish Bola’s image or make him to go to jail, since she (Falamade) is pregnant for him and would soon be officially married to him. As someone who was raped, they are not bothered how I feel but are only concerned about pregnancy and good name.”

She has, however, vowed to pursue the case with the last drop of her blood. “I want Bola to suffer for his sin. He debased my womanhood and almost killed me. I’m still afraid, my life is in danger.”
Yetunde has, however, appealed to the wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and other mothers, to help her get justice to serve as deterrent to others, who take delight in abusing women sexually.

The founder of Child Dignity Foundation, Amaka Awuagu, has vowed to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion. She said she would soon transfer the victim to Project Alert, where she would be properly taken care of. According to her, another problem the victim is facing is phobia for men. “Right now, she is dejected and devastated. This is one out of thousand cases out there. Women, including children, are being abused in Nigeria each day.”

Sun Newspaper