A 42-year-old tailor, who was arrested in Lagos for raping a 13-year-old girl in Ajangbadi area of Lagos, has denied rape, saying he was in a relationship with the girl. The teenager, a Junior Secondary School, JSS, 1 student, was said to have been raped while she was hawking plantain. Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect, Lucky Emmanuel, is a divorcee. His wife, as gathered, moved out leaving their two children in his custody.
It learned that management of the teenager’s school contacted the police on noticing that she was pregnant. However, the suspect, who was paraded at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters yesterday, took responsibility for the pregnancy, informing a bewildered crowd that he planned marrying the teenager. According to Emmanuel, who hails from Imo State, “I didn’t rape her. She was actually living with me with the permission of her parents. We started dating eight months ago and I have started the traditional rites. “I have done her introduction. I actually gave her parents N20,000 for the introduction and an additional N64,000. I want to get married to her. I only slept with her twice before she got pregnant in October. I made sure she registered for ante-natal care. “It was her school authority that contacted the police, who arrested me because they felt she was too young to be married. They only labelled it rape to make it look like a crime. “They also reduced her age, claiming she is 13, whereas she is 15. Her parents consented to the whole arrangement. “I was surprised when I received a call from her mother yesterday, that somebody went to the school authority to report that she was pregnant. “Delegates from the school authority came to the house and said that the girl is not mature enough for marriage. “That was how the case was reported to the police and I was arrested. I don’t know the name of her school. But she is in Junior Secondary School, JSS, one.”
Meanwhile, the teenager’s parents denied knowledge of Emmanuel’s relationship with their daughter. Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect alongside other suspects that have been terrorising the state, said that the suspect would be charged to court.