25-year-old Abdul Abubakar has been arrested by the Niger State Police Command for raping a seven- year-old girl, Fatima Abubakar.
The girl was a groundnut hawker around Abattoir area of Bosso Local Government of the state.
The incident occurred on August 30, 2013.
The suspect , an indigene of Ozi village in Koto Karfen Local Government of the state, pretended that he wanted to buy N20 worth of groundnuts from her and lured the little girl into his room.
A police source informed the Sunday Tribune that the suspect, who claimed to be an SSS3 pupil of Community Secondary School in Kogi State, grabbed the girl and dragged her into his room where he raped her.
“On getting to his room, he offered to give the girl N40.00 as he began to caress her body and later raped her,” the source stated.
After the incident, the suspect opened the door of his room so that the girl could leave his room, while he escaped through the back door.
When Fatimo regained consciousness, she began to cry, attracting the attention of an elderly woman in the neighbourhood.
Fatimo was said to have related her ordeal to the old woman who cleaned her up and took her to her parent’s house.
A search party was launched for the suspect by her parents with some sympathisers in the neighbourhood, which led to the arrest of the suspect.
Thereafter, the suspect was said to have confessed to the crime, saying “prior to the time of the rape of the girl, I did not know her.”
The suspect said “as Fatimo was about to go, I asked her to come back again. I asked her to follow me to my room and she did not argue with me.
“ I brought out a N20 note and gave it to her as a gift. But as I wanted to romance her, she started to struggle with me. I held on to her. I promised to give her more money.
After giving her the N20, I covered her mouth, held tightly to it and carried her into the inner room of the house. Thereafter, she began to shout and I went out through the back door and closed the door against her and she cried out hysterically which attracted the attention of the people in the neighbourhood .
The Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Police Command, Mr. Richard Adamu Oguche, confirmed the incident.
