My daddy slipped his fingers into my body, put me on the bed and slept on top of me”, that was how little Miss Blessing Ayibakuro Lambert, 7, from Opolo area of Bayels a State began her jeremiad. By the time the young girl was half way into her sad tale, some of those present were already in tears, wondering what would make a father rape his own daughter. Even the officers and men of the Bayelsa State Police Command, Yenagoa, who were taking note of what the young girl was reeling out could not withhold their emotions over her revelation. While her story was too touching to be ignored, the revelations dropping from her mouth like torrents of water, could not be brushed aside by the police officers and her sympathisers. In a jiffy, the little story teller was overwhelmed by the crowd of listeners, who gathered in droves to snoop with rapt attention the unfolding fairy-tale, good enough to make a thriller, but awful enough to be heard in the 21st century.
The police were enraged. They left no one in doubt that they were going to take action against the randy man, who had committed incest with his own – a child for that matter.
Before long, Lambert had been hurled into the police net and he was telling the police his own part of the melodrama, which has become the talk of town in Yenagoa in recent weeks.
Blessing told the police how her father, a native of Nembe in Nembe LGA of the state, had been forcing her into painful sex and threatening to kill her if she ever leaks the evil practice to anyone. Apparently, unable to really explain to the police how her father raped her daily, Blessing said,“It is my daddy. He fingers me and takes me to bed and sleeps on top of me. It is very painful. He said he would kill me if I tell anybody”.
But Lambert’s bestiality could not go undetected forever. He was caught in the act and reported to the police, who promptly nabbed and took him into custody pending prosecution for child rape.
His arrest was made possible by one of his neighbours, who works with the National Anti-corruption and Volunteer Corps, Ms. Princess Egbe.
Egbe said that although preliminary investigation by her group had shown that Lambert had been sleeping with his daughter for many months before he was exposed, he might have damaged the young girl’s womb, as she was complaining from abdominal pains all the time.
“For about five days I kept hearing the shrill cry of a small child crying behind my house.
It struck me that the girl might be in grave danger and needed attention. I rushed to the house and saw her lying down while her uncle was beating her.
“When I demanded to know what happened, the uncle who identified himself as Kimo, told me that the child had a boyfriend who had been violating her and that she was enjoying the act.
“In shock I advised that she should be taken to the hospital immediately for a check up and treatment. At that time Blessing’s father was not around. So Kimo and her stepmother agreed to take her to the hospital but they did not have money to do so.
“At the hospital, it was confirmed that the girl had been sexually violated but it was not clear who violated her and it was at that point that the need to reveal the person became very urgent.”
Blessing finally opened up and told her interrogators that it was her father who had been raping her. It was that crucial revelation by Blessing that led to her father’s arrest by the police. Blessing has also been taken into protective custody by the police.
“Lambert has been very confrontational, accusing me of making up the story to embarrass him.”
But he can hardly go too far in warding off the allegation because he is not new in the act. His ex-wife, Gift, who now lives in Port Harcourt, after a rancorous marriage, says she was raped and forced into marriage by the same man, a few years ago.
Raping women is pathologically inherent in Lambert’s life because he had done it to me and others before now,” the woman said.
She regretted that her effort to expose the man’s wrongdoing has drawn his ire and that he had threatened to deal with her because of the expose.
She said “I have been living with my three daughters in Port Harcourt after we broke up. He was not a good husband in the ten years that we stayed together. Sometime last year I visited Yenagoa with my second daughter and he called to tell me to allow Blessing to stay with him since he needed someone to keep him company following the involvement of his friend in an accident. Later he said he wanted to take his daughter for a walk and that was how he took custody of Blessing and began to defile her.
“I was in Port Harcourt when somebody called me that my little girl has been raped. I ran to Yenagoa to find that it was true. I have asked my baby severally and she has said it time without number that it is her daddy that has been having sexual intercourse with her. I have no doubt in my mind because I know what he can do”.
“In fact that was how he got me into his house as his wife. I was a teenager when he met me in Nembe. I was staying with my aunty after losing my parents. The man told my sister to tell me that he wanted to discuss something with me in the house. When I got there, he forced me into having sex with him and he was my first. People who heard me screaming in his room reported the matter to my aunt. She was so furious because he lied to her that I had sex with him willingly.
That was how I was driven from home to take refuge with my friend. Some months later he came begging that he would marry me and that was how I ended up with him.
“This man just wants to destroy my daughter’s future as he did to me. This time he will not go free. He has also gone to Nembe to threaten my aunt that he would kill her if I continue with the case. I am begging well-meaning Bayelsans to come to my aid,” the divorcee cried out.
It is apparent Lambert may still get away with the rape of his daughter. Report says he escaped from the police custody where he was detained. As at the time of going to press his whereabouts was still unknown to the police. Will the police get him and will he carry out the threats?
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