Chukwuemeka OdunzieThe primary three pupil said: "My daddy usually
gives me money after touching my private part or putting his joystick
in my mouth. He touches my private part when my mother is outside
washing clothes or when she is not in the house."The victim's father,
identified as Chukwuemeka Odunzie, allegedly started defiling his
daughter early last year.Narrating her ordeal, the victim's mother,
Mrs Odunzie, said: "Last year, my son told me that his younger sister
was fond of playing with her private parts. It sounded strange that a
seven-year-old childwould be doing that."I will talk to her, scold her
and sometimes beat her. There was a time I told my husband."All he
said was that if she was acting strangely I should take her to any of
these white garment churches. I was alarmed when one day, while we
were in the sitting room, she started touching and playing with
herself.She confesses to mother"Immediately, I called her inside the
room and asked her what the problem was. I asked her if anyone was
fiddling with her private parts. She said it was her father that
always touched her private parts and that after touching her private
parts, he would give her money."I confronted my husband when he
returned from work but he denied vehemently. I reported a case
ofdefilement to Ebenezer Divisional Police and the policemen invited
my husband for questioning."He was arrested later by the police, who
gave me areport to take my daughter to the hospital. The doctor said
there had been no penetration, but that there is an opening in her
virginal and advised that the victim be tested for infection.Family
pressure"By the time we came back from the hospital, the IPO said it
was a family issue and that we should gohome and settle the
case."Members of his family were shouting, saying that I had no right
to report the case to the police, that it was a family issue that
should be treated as one. They pressurized me till I withdrew the
case, after which he promised not to defile our daughter again."After
I withdrew the case, my husband began to beat the children at the
slightest provocation. And at times, he would beat them for no
tangible reason."Two weeks ago, it happened again. I asked her what
she did for her father that made him give her money without giving her
siblings. That was when she said that daddy gave her the money after
touching her private part."Her siblings said it had been ongoing for a
while and that they refused to tell me because the last time they did,
their daddy kept beating them."He puts it in my mouth""Her brother
said whenever I was not around, or I was outside washing clothes,
daddy would send him and his other siblings inside the bedroom, while
he would ask the victim to kneel down in between his legs and bend her
head towards his manhood."She also confirmed that after touching her,
daddy would put his joystick in her mouth."There was even a time my
daughter was caught in the act with a four-year-old boy, who is a
neighbour's child."In his defense, the victim's father, Chukwuemeka
Odunzie, admitted that it was only once he abused his daughter and
that he was not doing it for occult reasons.Reacting to the issue, the
Co-coordinator, Project Alert, Josephine Effah Chukwuma, said: "Apart
from ensuring that the law takes it course, the main task is how to
rehabilitate this little girl, whose life has been messed up by her
father."This is because the abuse was not a one-off thing as the
victim had become so accustomed to the act,that when she feels the
urge and there is no one to touch her, she touches herself."There is
need to rehabilitate her and her siblings, who watched."
