A 34-year-old man, Kennedy Michael, has been arrested by police in Lagos for allegedly impregnating his 13-year-old daughter.
The suspect, who was said to have been sleeping with his daughter since she was in primary 5, reportedly connived with his live-in lover, Ijeoma Ndukwu, to terminate the pregnancy.
The suspect was also accused of defiling a neighbour’s 18-month-old baby, who was kept in his care.
A neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Michael and his wife have been separated. He later brought his daughter to live with him in Lagos.
“But we started noticing changes in her and encouraged her to tell her father to take her to the hospital, where it was discovered that she was pregnant. The father reportedly told his live-in lover, Ijeoma Ndukwu, to assist him abort the pregnancy. This caused problems between them.
“As if that was not enough, he was alleged to have fingered a one-year and six months old baby in the same compound. The child’s father reported the case to police.”
Father of the child allegedly molested, Uche, told policemen: “My wife discovered that our baby had a tear in her private part when she wanted to bathe her. Before then, it was only Michael that was with the baby inside his room.
“We took her to Mende Health Centre, where doctors confirmed our fears. It was while there that a neighbour informed us that he was violating his daughter as well.”
When accosted, the Junior Secondary School 2 girl, who confirmed that her father had slept with her several times, disclosed that the last time he had sex with her was July 8.
Asked why she did not confide in anyone about the defilement, the teenager said: “I could not tell anyone because he threatened to kill me. My mother and my father are separated. I live with my daddy and my step-mother, while my mother lives in Sagamu.
“My father threatened that I must not tell anybody about what he was doing to me. He uses force to have sex with me.”
Aggrieved neighbours were said to have alerted the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Agency in Alausa, Ikeja, from where police were brought in.
On his part, the suspect expressed regret over his actions, saying he did not know what came over him.
Meanwhile, he has been dragged before Magistrate B. Osunsanmi. The prosecutor, Sergeant Olakunle Orebe, argued that the act was punishable under Section 137 of the 2011 Lagos State Criminal Law.
The magistrate, Osunsanmi denied Michael bail and ordered that he be remanded pending the legal advice from the Department of Public Prosecutions, DPP.
Osunsanmi adjourned the case till October 11 for further hearing. – Vanguard.
