My daughter was raped, murdered – Blessing Bassey

The mother of a 14-year-old girl, Favour Bassey, who was allegedly murdered in cold blood on the November 16, 2016 at their residence of No 32 Fakoya Street Egbeda has called for justice.

Mrs. Blessing Bassey, who is a single mother, alleged that on the said date, she had left her daughter,, an only child, at home at about 2:45pm to go to her place of work. She claimed she had only returned at about 11:15pm same day to find the lifeless body of her daughter hung on the burglary of her window with wrapper on her neck and two legs on the ground.

In shock, Blessing had rushed out of her room shouting and asking from her neighbours as to what had happened, but none claimed to have heard anything or seen anyone around her apartment.

Out of confusion, she and a few others immediately rushed her daughter to Igando General Hospital after which they were referred to Ikeja General Hospital where the girl was confirmed dead on arrival.

Blessing’s ordeal was further aggravated when on the November 17 she had reported the death of her daughter at the Afonka police division, Shasha. The DPO who also alleged she was responsible for her daughter’s death, detained her for hours and eventually extorted the sum of N19,000 from her.

Information that had filtered to our correspondent had it that some residents of the said house had alleged that the deceased may have taken her own life after procuring and using abortion pills.

However, for Blessing that is not the case. The mother of the deceased alleged that her daughter was possibly raped and killed.

In her written petition on threat to life and possible homicide dated February 13 addressed to and received by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, National Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Commissioner for Justice Lagos State, Blessing maintained that a co-tenant, popularly known as Janda, may have perpetrated the act.

When the Daily Times visited the bereaved mother, she said, “my daughter wasn’t pregnant and I can bet it that she didn’t procure or even use any abortion pills. The truth is that I have been having a running battle with a co-tenant named Janda. He has constantly threatened to deal with me.

“On the second week of October 2016, he threatened my daughter that he will cripple her due to an argument between him and her over generator wire disconnection.

“My worse nightmare was when I had reported to the Afonka police division, Shasha on the incident and the said DPO had asked his men to detain me as the first suspect in my daughter’s death. Why would I want my only child dead?

“They didn’t even bother to go to the scene of the crime or even make any possible arrest. I was even given a written paper by one Raphael, the IPO to sign and it was after signing that he read out the content to me that I reported the case of my daughter’s death after I had buried her which was all a lie.

“The police even collected N19,000 from my family who had come to secure my release as bail which I later heard of.”

On why she suspected her daughter may have been raped, Blessing disclosed that she had later gone back to her apartment to check for any possible clue as to what had happened when she discovered the bed sheet had some blood stains, and that she had gone further to check the privates of her daughter while at the mortuary where she discovered watery substances like sperm around the region with torn panties.

She said: “All I want is justice. Yes, I was naive when it happened but now I want the killer of my daughter brought to book. It is obvious she was raped by a known person who didn’t want her to disclose his identity and then killed her,” she lamented.

A source at the homicide department of the Lagos State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) where the case is currently being investigated note that although the suspect had been arrested by the police and interrogated, he was however granted bail pending the outcome of the police investigation.

Attempts to speak with the suspect while at SCIID proved abortive as he refused making any statement to the press.

A family member who had also come to secure his bail was seen shouting and rainning caurses on Blessing and her solicitor over what he called false accusation and a calculated attempt to rubbish the reputation of the suspect.

On his part, the solicitors for Blessing, Adeola Samuel-Ilorin, Esq stated that no stone will be left unturned in ensuring that the deceased gets justice. He maintained that all legal options available will be explored in getting the truth.