One Kenneth Okonkwo was on Wednesday accused by his estranged girlfriend of sexually abusing their 12-year-old daughter who had gone to spend the Easter holiday with him.
The girl’s mother, Ajoke Afolabi, a hairdresser, told a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja that the defendant was her boyfriend who got her impregnated, adding that she was delivered of a baby girl in 2015.
She said, “When I gave birth to my baby in 2005, he disappeared; my mother and I took full responsibility for the baby.
“I got married when my daughter was five years old and I left her with my mother because she was so attached to my mother. I enrolled her in the best private school and also ensured that she did not lack anything.
“Sometime in 2015, the defendant saw my brother and enquired about his daughter’s whereabouts. My sister brought him to my mother’s house where he promised to start taking responsibility of his child.
“He paid her school fees for a term and also bought clothes for her. He later came back in April 2015 and told my mother that he would like the girl to spend the Easter holiday with him.
“I gave my consent because of his changed attitude towards his daughter. After the Easter holiday I called him to bring back my daughter but he was not reachable. I later went to his family house and was told by his father that he had taken the child to Onitsha.
“I was still contemplating about the whole issue when I got a letter from the Citizen Mediation Centre inviting me. I got there only to see him there with my daughter. He asked for custody of his daughter, alleging that I was married to another man and that he did not want his child leaving in another man’s house.
“We signed an agreement that day and he promised to enrol my daughter in a good school and also take care of her. I was shocked when a month later I demanded to see my daughter and he told me that he had enrolled her in a public school in Agege.
“I forcefully took my daughter away. We were invited again by the Mediation Centre to settle things and from there they referred us to the welfare office.
“When we got there, we were asked to state our story; it was while we were arguing there that my daughter opened up to one of the officers that her father had been molesting her sexually.”
