Police Arrest 4 Rapists in Borno

EMERGENCY DIGEST- Sexual abuse and related gender-based violence have reached an uncommon height in Borno as the police call for an all-inclusive approach to curb the menace of rapists who spare no one including minors.

The police in Borno state, Northeast Nigeria, on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, paraded four suspects who are currently being charged for alleged cases of rape including a young man who raped a four-year-old girl he lured into a neighbourhood mosque.

Abdu Umar, Borno State Commissioner of Police (CP), told journalists during a press briefing that the accused rapists confessed to the crimes after medical investigations corroborated the accusation.

The CP said the four accused persons committed the crimes at different times in November this year.

“On 23/10/2021, at about 9 pm one Bilyaminu of Gwange street lured a 6 years old girl (named withheld) into a mosque and forcefully had a carnal of her,” the CP said.

The CP also said another case of rape was reported to have occurred on Nov.  4, 2021, when 27-year-old male, Abubakar Baba, lured four minors of ages 7, 6, and 4 years into his home and had canal knowledge with all of them.

Luck ran out when the veteran rapist when some underaged survivors decided to raise the alarm due to pains in their private bodies.

CP Umar also disclosed that one Abubakar Mohammed, a 17 year old man, had on October 22, 2021, attacked a Fulani woman on her way to sell cow milk in Debro village of Hawul local government area of Borno state and forcefully raped her.

“This lawsuituit is still being investigated while the suspect is still in custody,” the CP said.

Another case of gang rape was reported on Nov. 11, 2021, at about 1 pm WAT, when two young men, Isa and Mohammed, chased a young lady to a riverbank in Maiduguri and the two of them took turns to rape her.

Though the police said all suspects confessed to the crime, some also denied the claims saying they were innocent.

Responding to enquiries by journalists, Bilyaminu, the suspect accused of defying a 6 year old minor he lured into a mosque at night, said he was wrongly accused.

Likely Motivations

The Borno CP during the question and answer session said most of the motivations of paedophiles were beyond the quest to satisfy unbridled libido.

“In my experience and from the past cases handled by the police most these cases of raping minors were occultic, where some misguided Imams, pastors or marabouts would deceive them to have intercourse with virgins for wealth ritual or power; and the equally misguided elements would go looking for underaged children,” he said.

There are concerns that most rape cases in Borno state are hardly reported because parents of survivors felt discouraged that they hardly got justice in the past cases that were reported to the police. In some cases, police would rather encourage or browbeat survivors to settle out of court with the rapists.

The CP said all cases of rape especially of minors would be thoroughly investigated and suspects would be charged to court accordingly under his command.

“If we have no intention of prosecuting them, we won’t have made it public, and that is what we intend to do as a responsible law enforcement organisation,” he said.

The five rape suspects were among 30 other suspected criminals that the police paraded ahead of their arraignment in court for trial in connection with different offences.