I paid her parents N64,000 bride price: Rape Suspect

A 42-year-old man who was paraded at the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, on Wednesday, for defiling a 13-year-old girl said that he had made a N64, 000 partial payment of the victim’s bride price to her parents.

The suspect who sells clothes and resides at Ilaje, Ajangbadi area of Lagos said that he had been dating the victim for eight months after she had told him she was 18-years-old.

“She told me she is 15-years-old and we have been dating for eight months. I have fulfilled some of the traditional rites required to marry her.

“I paid N20,000 for introduction and gave her father N64,000 out of the N100,000 demanded for other traditional rites.

“The parents know that I have been taking care of the girl, I was surprised when I received a call yesterday that the police were looking for me after the girl’s school authorities said that she is too young to get married.

“I have met elders in her family three times, her mother’s clothes, which she gave me to mend because she wants to travel, are still in my shop.

“I just feel sad that am being treated this way after all that I have done to the family,” he said.

A police source said that the victim’s parents denied knowing the suspect and that the girl is a primary six pupil who usually sell plantain to the suspect.

She added that the victim had gone to sell plantain to the suspect after which she was defiled and given N500.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) however reports that the suspect was asked for the address of his in-laws, but he could not respond.