A crime news report from the
Punch newspaper has got me almost weeping this early morning. Sex predators abound, but it is so heart breaking when they target children, it becomes monstrous when such a predator uses the cover of his home to molest his daughters and grand daughter. In a country like Nigeria where such cases are part of what "we do not talk about," effectively shutting up the victims from reporting the crime, or getting help through counselling and therapy, it is especially heinous!
But beyond lamenting such cases as we often read about in the papers and blogs, I want to point out the role the adult woman in such a situation has to play. In this story, I was baffled by the statement from the wife of the accused pedophile. Let us forget for a moment that the extended family is also complicit in this dastardly act, do you think the wife did all she could? Her story...
“I am a caterer. In 2006 I went to Abuja for a catering job where I spent five days. But at about 1am, my first daughter, who was about 17-years-old at the time, called me on the phone crying that her father raped her that night.
“When I returned, I confronted him but he beat me up and he continued to molest our daughter and each time I confronted him, it earned me a beating. I had no choice but to leave him when I got fed up with seeing him molesting our daughter and later sleeping with me. I took my six children and we relocated.”
She said in 2011, Sylvester’s family settled their differences and urged the couple to reconcile for the sake of the children. She said her husband swore never to touch any of his daughters again and she reluctantly returned to her husband’s house.
