My Granddaughter Bled For Eight Days After Being Raped’

A four-year-old girl bled for eight days after she was allegedly raped by her school bus driver, her grandmother, Mrs. T. Ajose, has said.

Mrs Ajose, a businesswoman, claimed the suspect, Yemi Adesina, committed the act within the school premises.

The suspect, who has been detained at the Panti Police Station in Adekunle, Yaba, Lagos, allegedly had carnal knowledge of the Nursery II pupil in a classroom on September 17.

Mrs Ajose told The Nation she knew about the incident when she went to fetch her granddaughter after school.

She said: “When I saw her at the school that afternoon, she looked very dull, so I became curious. I then asked her what the matter was three times. But she repeatedly said that she did not want to go back to the school again. When I asked her why, she said she just wanted to go home. So, at that point, I became worried.”

Mrs Ajose said instead of going home, they went to church, adding: “When we got to church, she said she wanted to excrete. But before I could get a potty for her, she had, quite unusual of her, excreted on her body. I noticed that her excrement was mixed with blood. Ha!, fear gripped me! I thought it was probably Jedi jedi (pile). She was behaving strangely. She neither talked nor ate. She just sat in a corner within the church premises. About 20 minutes after, I tried to pet her because she was unusually quiet. But while I carried her on my laps, I noticed that her pant was soaked with blood. I almost passed out. I screamed for help out of fear and confusion.

“When I persuaded her to tell me what happened, she said she had been warned not to tell anyone. I asked her who told her that and she said Uncle Yemi in her school.”

Narrating what transpired between the victim and the suspect, Mrs Ajose quoted her granddaughter as saying: “He put me on a table, covered my mouth and my face with a piece of cloth and put something inside my bum. But he later cleaned it.“

Ajose, who said she found it hard to believe that her granddaughter had been raped, stated that she rushed the girl to a hospital, where her fear was confirmed.

“The following day, when I got to the school, I shouted on top of my voice. Though my daughter has been attending the school since she was 18 months old, the teachers pretended as if they didn’t know her. Some residents and passersby who heard my cry intervened and, in the process, destroyed some of the school’s property out of anger after listening to my story. Later, we reported the matter at Alagolo Police Station, Ipaja and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), followed us to the school. Then, my granddaughter showed us the particular classroom where the driver had committed the act. The DPO ordered all the male staff in the school to line up and asked the girl to point at the particular staff member who did that to her. She pointed at Yemi immediately. The DPO re-arranged them four times and she still pointed at the same person. That was how he was arrested and detained at Panti.”

She, however, expressed shock that the school wrote to the Special Anti- robbery Squad (SARS), claiming that those who vandalised the school property caused the death of one of its teachers.

Mrs Ajose said: “They wrote in the petition that when residents entered the school’s premises, the teacher fell on a pavement which led to her death. But I was told she slumped in her home on Sallah day while cooking. They never talked about my daughter’s health. They have turned it into a murder case.

“It is really painful. She is the third child of her mother. She has been living with me since she was five months old. Her siblings also live me. I keep wondering what attracted him to my granddaughter. I take her to and from school every day. The man is married and has children. But I don’t know why he could not use any of them for money ritual or whatever he intended to do. The school authorities have also threatened to deal with us, if we don’t drop the case. Why my own granddaughter? I need justice. Good people of Nigeria should please intervene? Why should I lie about this? My granddaughter bled for eight days.”

But, The Nation learnt that the late teacher slumped at her Abesan Estate home in Ipaja, Lagos.

The school’s principal, whose identity could not be ascertained, said she was not authorised to speak on the matter.

The proprietor, Rev. Michael Abodunrin, described the incident as “just an allegation”.

In an interview with The Nation, he said: “I don’t think I will make any comment because it is just an allegation yet. The case is in court already. Our school was vandalised by some residents on September 18, between 7.30am and 8am in respect of the rape case. The law enforcement agency will do its job.