The Lagos state police command in company of the Lagos state Office of the Public defender, has arrested the founder of a non-governmental organisation, Jephath Ighodaro,
37, for allegedly defiling his twin sons at their home in Aguda in Surulere, Lagos state.
According to Punch, trouble started when the twin boys fondled their mother's breast in a way that got her curious. She asked them where they learnt such an act from and the boys told her that is how their father used to touch them.
“The woman and the suspect got married over four years ago. The woman came from a family that is not well to do, while the man came from a rich family. The woman said throughout their marriage, the man only made love to her about six times. The woman suspected that something was wrong with him as he abandoned her sexually. She said she could not cry out because she was afraid. She raised the issue with the suspect’s sister who lives abroad and she dismissed it. The man’s family asked her to keep quiet. She lived with the husband in a flat in their family house.” a source said
The source said one of the twin boys was diagnosed with a hole in the heart and was flown to India for treatment. After a corrective surgery, the boy was said to have recovered.
“Meanwhile, before the boy went to India for the surgery, the man had left the house. When they returned from India, the man took the boys away from their mother. The woman did not move out of the house. After two years, the man started bringing the boys to the family house for weekends. He brought them every two weeks. On one of the occasions, she said the boys wanted to sleep with each other. Then at another time, they started fondling her breasts in an adult way. She questioned them and they confessed that their father had been sodomising them. They also alleged that he brought men to the house, who also sodomised them” the source added.
The matter was reported to the Office of the Public Defender and a test was carried out on the twin boys at the Mirabel Medical Centre, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. The results reportedly showed that the children had forceful penetration in their anuses.
“On the day the children were brought to the OPD for interviews, they claimed that their father sodomised them that day as well. After the result of the tests from Mirabel was released, the case was sent to the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command Ikeja,” the source said.
The accused who was arrested by policemen from the Aguda division and was transferred to the command headquarters, denied the allegation. He will however be arraigned in court today August 3rd.
The Director of the OPD, Mrs Olayinka Adeyemi, vows that the state government would ensure that the suspect, if found guilty, would face the full wrath of the law.
“We find it unacceptable and shocking that a father could abuse his own children; two beautiful sons. This shows that sexual abuse is not just about the girl-child; the boy-child is also endangered. While we were interviewing the children, they went to the toilet about three times; we are afraid that their bladders may have been affected. We have asked that further tests be conducted on them. We also discovered that he has an NGO that claims to be empowering youths. And the NGO has a lot of youths and that was why we got the gender unit of the police command involved because the NGO may be a scam through which young and innocent boys are being lured. To his end, we have written the state Commissioner of Police for further investigation'' he said
Confirming the arrest of the suspect, the spokesperson of the Lagos State police command, CSP Chike Oti, said the suspect was in custody and would face prosecution.
“It is a case of sodomy transferred from the Aguda division. The matter was reported on July 25, 2018, by one Obot on behalf of her twins, aged four, against her husband, Jephath Ighodaro. The complainant alleged that her husband had been abusing their children between January 2018 and July 2018. She said she separated from him since October 2015 and that the husband took the children away from school in March 2016. She said when he brought them to spend weekend with her sometime in January 2018, the children fondled her breasts. She said when she asked them who taught them the naughty behaviour, they narrated that their father had been penetrating them through their anuses and he also asked them to suck his manhood. The medical report from Mirabel Medical Centre revealed there was penetration into the victims’ anuses'' he said
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