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 that 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."
