The suspect, a tailor whose shop was located opposite Ajibade’s home denied seeing the baby, when asked.
However, the toddler’s mother told Vanguard: “My baby later came to me crying, pointing at her private part and, at the same time, calling ‘Itua,’ ‘Itua’.
“I checked her private part and discovered that her pant was blood-stained. When I asked Itua what he did to my daughter, he said nothing. He admitted that my daughter came to meet him in his shop, but that he drove her out to go and meet me.
“At that point, I started shouting at the top of my voice, until people gathered. A mob gathered and apprehended him.”
When Vanguard visited the area yesterday, the suspect’s shop was under lock and key. Other apprentice were said to have fled for fear of being arrested.
A resident, who simply gave his name as Matthew, said: “This is not the first time. He has been caught several times, but would beg to be freed. This is the first time he has been taken to the police. Policemen from Akinpelu Division took him away.”
‘I only fingered her’
During interrogation, Itua, an Esan man, from Edo State, said: “I didn’t put my manhood in her. I only fingered her. It was the devil’s handwork.”
The Child Protection Network Coordinator, Mirabel Centre, at LASUTH, Mr. Ebenezer Omejalile, described the incident as the worst case ever received at the centre.
He said: “The girl was in a pool of blood, with her private part very expanded. It is not easy patching her up. The girl is still there receiving treatment.”
Relatives of the suspect appealed to the family of the baby to withdraw the case from the police station, but Vanguard gathered that the Centre refused, saying rape was a case against the government and justice must be done.
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