A 25-year-old girl (names withheld) was gang-raped for over 4 hours

continuously by a gang of 10 hoodlums. The ugly incident took place at

the
St. Thomas area of Diobu, Port Harcourt on Thursday, May 15 2008. I was
dragged from a bus by 4 of the boys at about 11pm and taken to a jungle
where 6 other people were waiting and one after the other, the 10 of them
took their turn to rape me, the traumatized girl told CEHRD with tears in
her eyes.
The girl said that as soon as they dragged her to their bunk, a mechanic
garage littered with abandoned vehicles, they subjected her to serious
beatings, tore her skirt and blouse before embarking on the sexual
escapades. As each of them was doing it, without condom, others were
urging him to do quickly and give them chance saying o boy do quickly
now
make I do my own, she stated. They continued like that until about 3am
when they finally allowed her to go. The rape victim said that initially she
wanted to break loose and run away, but was warned that if she tried it,
she
would be killed. I no wan die, I was helpless, so, I resigned to fate and
kept
my body for them, leaning on one of the abandoned vehicles, she said.
When they became satisfied, they told her to run but warned that she
should
not try to alert the police.
They also seized her clothes, leaving her to go in pant and bra only. The
exhausted girl managed to trace the house of one of her friends around
that
area and as soon as she entered the house, she collapsed. Her friend gave
her
clothes to wear and as soon as day broke, she went and got some drugs
for
her. She remained with the girl until Sunday when she went home in the
morning. For several days, her private part, waist and lower abdominal
region pained her seriously.
When asked why she did not go home or go to the police immediately she
regained her freedom, she said, I was ashamed coming out naked, I may
be
seen by people
Gang rape of a Girl gave Police Opportunity to Extort Money.

16

Police Extra-Judicial Killing and Lawlessness

The girl was being taken home by the bus driver whose name she gave as
Ikechukwu. Another boy who said that he came for examination in Port
Harcourt but was stranded as their vehicle arrived very late was also in
the
bus. However, as they stopped to help the boy locate his destination, 6 of
the
hoodlums surrounded them. One of the boys faced the boy, 4 engaged the
driver, Ikechukwu, while one confronted the girl. They wanted to rob the

driver, but he managed to escape and ran away, leaving them behind
(herself
and the boy).
Two of the hoodlums pounced on the boy and started to beat him
mercilessly, while the other 4 men dragged the girl carelessly along the
rough path to the jungle. The boy had his head broken. The driver who
escaped from the cultists ran to a JTF checkpoint at Owhonda by Ikwerre
road, near Ikoku junction. After alerting the soldiers, he went back to the
spot, brought out N500 note and shouted come and take money and
leave
my sister alone. Not knowing that that was a bait to apprehend them,
one of
the rapists was sent to get the money from him. When the boy saw the
N500,
he told him that N500 is an insult and as he wanted to turn back, the man
told
him to wait that he wanted to increase the amount.As soon as the boy
turned
to collect the money he grabbed him and wrestled him down, held him
tight
until the soldiers came to arrest him, the cult boy. He was taken to the JTF
checkpoint where he was tied by the soldiers. The detainee was later
handed
over to the police at the Diobu Mile 1 police station.
With the aid of the boy, 3 other members of the gang, including one Mola
identified as their leader were also arrested. Mola is said to be a local hard
drug seller while the rapists are his errand boys and marketers. Those
captured revealed other members of their gang. Unfortunately, rather
than
going after them, the policemen went back to the area and arrested 4
other
persons said to be innocent and took them to the police station. Even the
rapists told the policemen that those boys were not among them but the
police insisted on detaining them.
They were later released on Monday May, 19, 2008 after bribing the police
with about N7, 000 each. The rape incident later turned out to be an
opportunity for the policemen to extort money as they refused to
prosecute
them or carryout investigations into the activities of the hoodlums. It was

17

Police Extra-Judicial Killing and Lawlessness

gathered that the policemen later collected about N150, 000 from the
rapists
and let them off the hook after threatening to arrest the raped girl and the
bus
driver for daring to request that the matter be charged to court. The gang
is
said to have been terrorizing the area, raping helpless girls and married
women on daily basis.