A teacher at the Ijagba Community High School, Sotubo, Sagamu, Segun Durojaiye, has been apprehended for alleged serial rape of his daughter

The 52-year-old father was held along with his brother, Emmanuel Durojaiye, for the offence. The victim lived with her father on Baba-Benja Street, Oreyo, Igbogbo Ikorodu.

It was also learnt that Segun took the victim into custody after her mother died when she was an infant.

He and his second wife were said to be taking care of the girl until sometime in 2014 when the stepmother died and the victim relocated to Abuja to live with a relative.

Segun reportedly asked the victim to return home after a few months and started having sex with her, with a threat that she must not reveal the act to anyone.

It was gathered that the victim had visited her uncle, 42-year-old Emmanuel, in his apartment on Durojaiye Street in Oreyo one day when he also allegedly raped her.

Emmanuel was said to have subsequently subjected her to sexual harassment alongside her father.

Our correspondent learnt that sometime in December 2017, the girl defied the threats and confided the incestuous relationships in her stepsister, who informed their grandmother.

“The grandmother tried to manage the matter, but some residents got wind of it and involved a lawyer. The lawyer petitioned the Lagos State Police Command on behalf of the girl. The girl’s father and her uncle were arrested and the case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.

“The suspects confessed to have had canal knowledge of her on three occasions respectively. In the course of investigation, one Adenike, the second child of Segun, corroborated the victim’s claims. She said her sister complained to her about how their father was sexually molesting her. Adenike said she cautioned her father, but he continued. The father teaches at Ijagba Community High School,” a police source said

The source explained that the victim told the police that her father impregnated her twice, while the uncle did once, adding that they took her to places where the pregnancies were aborted.

He said, “She said the father started having sex with her when she was 13. She was impregnated by the suspects, but the pregnancies were aborted on three occasions. Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the nurses who carried out the abortions. The father and the uncle took advantage of her through constant threats.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Chike Oti, confirmed the incident, adding that the command had zero tolerance for sexual abuse.

He said, “The case was brought to the attention of the police through a petition and the Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, directed that the case be referred to the SCIID for discreet investigations.

‘The CP and the command have zero tolerance for all manner of sexual molestation. The command will continue to work with relevant agencies of the state government in ensuring that the rights of people, especially the girl child, are protected. Anybody caught violating, abusing or exploiting minors will be brought to justice.”

The suspects were arraigned before a Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court on Monday on eight counts bordering on assault, rape and abortion.

The charges read in part, “That you, Segun Durojaiye of Baba-Benja Street, Oreyo, Ikorodu, Lagos, and Emmanuel Durojaiye of 10 Durojaiye Street, Oreyo, Ikorodu, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony,- to wit: having unlawful intercourse with a 16-year-old girl.

“That you, Segun Durojaiye, sometime between 2014 and 2017 did have unlawful sexual intercourse with one 16-year-old, your daughter, impregnated, and procured abortion on her, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 145(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.

“That you, Emmanuel Durojaiye, sometime between 2014 and 2017 did have unlawful sexual intercourse with one 16-year-old, your niece, impregnated her, and procured abortion on her, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 145(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.”

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The presiding magistrate, Oluwatoyin Oghre, granted the accused bail in the sum of N1m each with two sureties each in like sum.

She said one of the sureties should be a Level 15 civil servant who had a titled document or a traditional ruler, adding that the sureties must show evidence of three years’ tax payments to the state government.

She ordered that the duplicate case file be sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and adjourned the case till March 12, 2018.