Police arrest tricycle operator for defiling teenager in A’Ibom

A 27-year-old tricycle operator is in the police custody after he was apprehended by concerned youths for allegedly defiling a 10-year old girl in Use Offot, Uyo local government area of Akwa Ibom State. The tricycle operator identified as Edet Sunday Edem hails from Oku Iboku in Itu local government area of Akwa Ibom State allegedly committed the crime in his rented apartment in Use Offot, Uyo metropolis and dumped the girl at Use Offot market square leaving in pool of her blood. The girl (names withheld) was rescued by passersby and was rushed to St Luke’s hospital, Anua for medical attention. Mariam Daniels who is a member of a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Journalists Alliance against Gender Based Violence who took the girl to the hospital said she noticed that the girl was lying helplessly in the market square. According to Daniels, moved by the victim’s pitiable state of health, she insisted that she should be taken to the suspect’s residence and when she arrived she was confronted with ‘a pool of blood’ in the suspect’s apartment “The suspect’s door was locked and there was no indication that he was within the neighbourhood’’ adding that blood stains were noticed in the premises, she said. It was gathered that the news of the incident had spread like wild fire, prompting youths in the community to launch a manhunt for the culprit and found him in his hometown in Oku Iboku where he had gone to hide in his pastor’s house. Speaking in an interview, Fabian Ikpe the youth leader of Use Offot said the community was worried about such a heinous crime and had to search for the suspect adding that when he was found, he wanted to know whether he would be allowed to go scot-free. “We told him that he should cooperate with us but we took him to the police station,’’ he said. Giving his statement at the Ewet Police station, the suspect who confessed to the crime said that apart from being a tricycle operator, he is a senior official of a church where he is serving as an elder adding that dropped out of primary school. “Yes I slept with her but when I noticed that she was bleeding, I erased the blood from the floor,’’ he said. It was further gathered that the wife of Governor Udom Emmanuel, Martha Udom Emmanuel has stepped into the matter with a view to giving the girl specialist medical treatment. The senior police officer who took the statement from the suspect said he would be taken to court at the conclusion of investigation. According to Glory Edet, Akwa Ibom State commissioner for women affairs and social development, at least seven persons have been convicted of rape and defilement in so far. Isaac Job, Uyo