The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, on Friday, confirmed that the policeman accused of raping a 17-year-old girl in one of the offices at the Area H Command in Ogudu, in the Ojota area of the state, has been queried over the allegation.
Fayoade, while speaking with City Round, said the command was awaiting the medical report of the test conducted on the minor who accused the policeman of raping her during a visit to the police station over the case of a stolen phone.
Noting that the medical report was a determinant factor in an alleged case of rape, the CP said the command was on top of the matter, adding that no stone would be left unturned in the investigation.
Fayoade said, “The accused policeman is currently under detention. We are waiting for the medical report; a medical report in an alleged case of rape is very vital; it is a determinant factor and that is what we are waiting for. But the policeman has been issued a query.”
The mother of the teenager, Aramida Olupona, in a phone interview with City Round, said, “Officer Owolabi is supposed to have been charged to court by now, what are they waiting for? What are they covering up?
“Now it’s more than a week and there has been silence from the police. We have not heard from them since then. We want more than a query given to this officer, the police need to be transparent and hold one of their own accountable for his actions.
“They said they are conducting an investigation, what has come out of it? They are trying to shield the officer, but Nigerians are waiting. In fact, the whole of Africa and the rest of the world are waiting for the next step that the police will take.”
Meanwhile, some nongovernmental organisations lamented the prolonged investigation into the case, adding that the Nigeria Police Force was setting a bad precedent.
Commenting on the development, the President of the Centre for Human and Social Economic Rights, Alex Omotehinse, urged the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency to monitor the case properly.
City Round had reported that the policeman allegedly linked to the crime promised to help the teenager retrieve her stolen phone when he overheard her narrating how a ‘one chance’ robber dispossessed her of on June 16.
The victim said the policeman had called her mother, that the suspect who stole her phone had been arrested and she should tell her daughter to come to the station.
She said, “When I entered Officer Owolabi’s office and greeted him, he replied, got up to lock the door, and put the key in his pocket. I shouted, ‘Sir, why did you lock the door?’
“He started trying to pull my clothes off and I shouted, then he brought out a gun, cocked it, and threatened to shoot me if I shouted. Then he began harassing me and when I struggled with him he hit me on the back of my head with the gun and raped me.”
