“I Only Slept With Her Thrice” – Man Arrested For Defiling Wife’s Sister

Police have arrested an Islamic cleric for allegedly defiling a six-year-old girl in his single room apartment at Bariga area of Lagos State. The suspect, AbdulLateef Mustapha (38), was said to have lured the girl into his room when his wife had travelled out of the state for a function.

The incident occurred on February 16 at Mojoyinola
Street, Bariga. After the cleric had carnal knowledge of the girl, she
told an elderly woman in their compound what her sister’s husband did to
her. The woman then raised the alarm and brought it to the attention of
a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Child Protection Network.

The
Coordinator of Child Protection Network, Somolu Branch, Mr. Toyin
Okanlawon, said immediately the information got to the organisation’s
notice, the officials moved swiftly and the matter was reported to the
police who then arrested Mustapha the following day. He said:
“Initially, when the suspect was arrested by policemen from Bariga
Division, he denied the allegation.

He said how can he sleep with
her wife’s cousin? But when the girl was brought before him, it was
then he opened up that he only slept with her thrice.

“When the
girl was taken to the hospital, it was confirmed she was defiled and she
had also being infected with Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) and her
bladder had been ruptured which made her to be bedwetting whenever she
sleeps.” Some of the friends of the Islamic cleric berated him but were
said to have pleaded with the DPO to pardon him.

His wife also
reportedly begged for mercy, saying that they would go home and resolve
it amicably. But the DPO was said told the suspect’s wife and friends
that there was nothing he could do. According to the DPO, the matter is a
state case which no one should toy with.

The matter has been
transferred to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence
Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigation. When
contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Chike
Oti, promised to get back to our correspondent