I rently read the account below in a thread in another forum and feel evey parent must read this. I am still shuddering:
magine your nine-year-old son being repeatedly abused over a period of four months by a cripple you treat and consider as younger brother? That’s the lot of Mrs. Erebor (real names withheld).
Interestingly, on the day the evil cripple, Stanley Ologbo, an indigene of Ijese in Delta State, was finally exposed the mother of six had just offered him her own dinner, which he gobbled up. She was dressed in traditional attire (iro and buba) and for the first time in over three years a smile was on her face because, at last, the man who repeatedly abused her son had finally been locked away at Kirikiri Maximum Prisons. And now, children in Ajegunle, Africa’s largest ghetto, are safe from his abusive hands.
However, justice did not come easy; it was the climax of a protracted lawsuit, challenges and battles that lasted over three years.
A friend in need Long before evil Stanley’s dark and sick world was exposed, she had created for him in her heart a special place because of his disability. So close were they that she treated him like a younger brother. What’s more, whenever he was sick, she was there to give him all the assistance and succour she could muster.
“It was a terrible experience,” the mother of six said, opening up to Sunday Sun in an exclusive chat, adding: “It’s an evil you wouldn’t even wish your enemy. Stanley was like a younger brother to me. Whenever he visited, whatever we had we shared with him. “And because he was physically challenged, I did all I could to make life easy for him. People look down on the physically challenged, so I wanted to make a difference in his life. It is so sad that he could stab me in the back.
“It started in July 2009, but we got to know in October, four months after. Stanley would come to our home and request to use the toilet. Because he’s physically challenged, I would tell my son to go and fetch water for him, and I would leave them alone.”
Warning However, one of her sons, Samuel (real names withheld), could see through evil Stanley’s façade and confided in his mom that beneath that veneer was lurking a sick intimate predator, and children were his prey, but his entreaties fell on deaf ears, as Erebor strongly believed that evil Stanley’s integrity was beyond question.
“I was like Daniel, and I wondered why my son was trying to destroy his image? Why should you bring him down? Remember, he is physically challenged. Unfortunately, I did not believe him.” Unperturbed, Samuel had a confrontation with the intimate predator and warned him to steer clear of their home.
Wolf in sheep skin A few months later the eldest daughter of the family returned home from her youth service and Stanley used that as an opportunity to make peace by helping to carry her luggage to their home. So impressed were the Erebors that Stanley was accepted back into the fold and thus began four months of intimate abuse that transformed her nine-year-old son into what she describes as a “total mumu.”
Suspicion Erebor said she gradually noticed that her son was becoming a recluse as he stayed away from friends and family members and was always behaving strangely. “I noticed that a very strange odour oozed from my son. We were all wondering ‘what kind of odour it was?’ His jaws were always swollen. I gave him anti-biotics, but there was no improvement. I took him to the hospital for check-up, but the doctors said nothing was wrong with him. At a time his tummy started swelling.”
He stayed away from all of us and was always on his own. And we kept wondering what the problem was. “There was a day I noticed some dark stains on his shirt, so I asked my daughter, ‘doesn’t this stain look like Fluid? We hardly take pap in the house.’ But my daughter was like haba mummy!”
Traumatised Meanwhile, her nine-year-old son was undergoing a trauma. He could not report to anyone because evil Stanley had warned him that if he ever told anybody he would kill him instantly! However, the abuse was taking its toll on the boy and the once vibrant and lively kid began to withdraw from his family.
“He would just be looking at everybody like a fool. There was one particular woman who was always coming to our home. She would say, ‘Mama Victor, your boy is not well o. Have you found out what is wrong with him?’ “The abuse was affecting him mentally. The boy became a mumu. He couldn’t read any more. Whenever you talked to him he would stare back at you blankly.”
Exposed! As the popular saying goes; ‘Everyday for the thief, one day for the owner.’ Things took a dramatic turn after Mrs. Erebor’s pastor declared a seven-day fast and instructed members to ask God for whatever they desired, saying that God would grant them. Erebor made her son her major prayer point. Interestingly, the enemy within, evil Stanley, joined the family in the prayer and fasting.
Finally, one evening, it all happened! “I don’t want to remember that day,” says the petty trader. “We were just a few days into the fast when my son began behaving strangely again, and we were all afraid. There was one evening he rushed out of the bathroom spitting and vomiting. “His elder sister took him aside and asked him, ‘why are you spitting and vomiting,’ but he wouldn’t answer. She interrogated him for hours before he finally opened up. And when he did, he was crying. So, we took him to church and fasted and prayed.
“He said Stanley forced him to suck his organ whenever he went to get water for him to flush the toilet! He said he couldn’t tell anybody because Stanley had warned him that if he ever spoke he was going to kill him by smashing his skull with the iron rod he carried around.”
Devastated “I was shocked that all this was going on right under my nose and I was none the wiser. I would be in the kitchen cooking and he would be in the toilet abusing my son. Funny enough, whenever he is in the toilet nobody would go there. I remember the last meal I was supposed to eat that fateful evening; I had given it to him out of pity.
“My son told us there was a day he tried to abuse him anally but failed. At times he would be there sucking and sucking after which he would ask him to swallow his Fluid! “I shouted and screamed. I prayed that what I was hearing was not true. I was so angry. I got a razor blade and swore to cut him to pieces. Everybody was angry, one person even suggested that we should invite and give him cement to drink and throw him into the carnal. “All my children were crying because we were afraid my son could have contracted HIV. One of my church members, who came to my house, wanted to leave but I begged her not to go because, if she left I could die there. I needed someone to talk to. The next morning we went to the police station and reported the matter.”
After Stanley’s arrest, if the family thought that justice was around the corner, they were wrong. It would take them another three years of court battle and intimidation from both the police and Samuel’s family before justice could be delivered. To get the police cracking, they had to part with N4,000. They allegedly paid N3,000 more to get evil Stanley arrested!
Finally in police net, evil Stanley sang like a nightingale. He admitted knowing why he was arrested and pleaded with the police to help him plead with Erebor, because he had offended her greatly. He confessed there were times he abused her son for five straight days in a week!
Long road to justice However, the joy of the family that justice would soon be done began to evaporate after the IPO started acting funny. “After his confessional statement, the IPO from day one was not supportive, as she was always behaving funny. She would say, ‘Madam, why do you want to make case? What if it was your son that abused somebody else’s child?” Though, the DPO had instructed that the case be charged to court, the IPO kept wasting time.
“Finally, the case got to court and the magistrate was annoyed that the suspect was brought to court late. However, he referred the case to a family court because it was out of his jurisdiction. Erebor disclosed that evil Stanley’s relatives were determined to do all they could to prevent their evil sibling from seeing the four walls of a prison. They tried to dissuade Erebor from pursuing the case in court. From offering her money, and using the police to discourage and intimidate her, to sending thugs after her and being physically assaulted, Erebor saw it all.
“There was one big man who came to my daughter and said, ‘Young girl, let us settle this thing out of court; what happened is now in the past; let us settle; I will pay you for your troubles,’ but my daughter said no.
“We started going from one adjournment to the another. At times, it was every week or two weeks. There was a time the prosecutor asked, ‘why do you want to send this guy to jail? Madam, collect money o. Your case go burn o!’ But I was hopeful that with the confessional statement of the cripple, I would get justice. They offered me N100,000 cash if I agreed to settle out of court.”
Stroke Meanwhile, the entire experience was taking its toll on her. She suddenly collapsed one day and was rushed to the hospital. The doctor’s diagnosis revealed that she had just experienced a partial stroke. Said she, “There was a lot of pressure on me, even my brothers were against it, they said I was taking the case too far and would destroy the name of the family, so my family was very worried. “I was hospitalized for almost two weeks. I collapsed and was rushed to hospital and the doctors told me I was very lucky because what I had was a partial stroke.
“When I came out of hospital, the mother of the cripple came to see me with some pastors and they said, ‘Madam, have pity. To err is human, but to forgive is divine.’ So, my son asked the pastor, ‘did this woman tell you what her son did?’ “After my son narrated the story, they were so embarrassed that they fled. But his mum did not stop; she would bring different people to beg me. At a point, even my neighbours were advising me ‘forget this case, tomorrow e fit be your turn.’
“There was a day we went to court and some touts accosted me and said we should settle the case quietly because it is only when I am alive that I can talk about a case. I was so scared, but I said no, even if I die I don’t mind. All I want is justice.
“On another day we were coming back from church. We met evil Stanley along the road. He began mocking and laughing at me, boasting that he was going to kill me and there was nothing I could do. On a particular day, I barely escaped with the skin of my teeth when he tried to hit me with a big stick, because we had an argument earlier. A female traffic warden saved my life. I was confused and almost giving up on the case. Then I called my pastor and he said, ‘mummy, don’t collect money from this people. God is with you.’”
Serial sex predator “He had been doing it to other children in the neighbourhood. I learnt my son was not the first, but families were scared of seeking justice because of the stigma,” Erebor said. She disclosed that the neighbourhood primary school was his den. He would lure kids away with sweets and money, take them to the school and abuse them.
However, along the line, the school authorities got wind of his evil acts and erected a fence around the school. Meanwhile, unknown to her, the case had been mysteriously closed in court and the prosecutor did nothing to inform her despite repeated visits and endless questions.
CDF to the rescue In December 2010, feeling hopeless and lost and on the verge of despair, Erebor came in contact with an NGO run by Funmi Adeniran, the woman who eventually took her to Child Dignity Foundation (CDF) run by Amaka Awogu, another NGO that specializes in child abuse cases. “I told her my challenges and how I was on the verge of giving up, and she was angry.
Awogu asked, ‘Who told you that your case is going to burn? Don’t worry; CDF is going to stand by you all the way. She told me it was her battle and she would stand by me all the way.” Enquiries led Awogu to discover to her cgagrin that the case of child abuse instituted against evil Stanley had been closed. “She was the one that told me that my case had been closed. My prosecutor did not tell me anything. As soon as CDF came on board, they took over the case. CDF was paying the bills. I was so happy.” Judgment day
January 5, 2011 is a date Erebor would never forget. It was the day she finally got justice after almost three years of legal battle, tears and challenges. “Awogu was my pillar of strength. I called her that morning and she gave me a lot of courage. I thank God she was there. I did not know I would get justice that day. Evil Stanley’s sister kept boasting that he had done nothing to deserve going to jail; she said the judge was going to set him free.
“I prayed that God should take control and be with me. I can never forget that date, January 5, the day I finally got justice. When the judge made the pronouncement, I was so happy and shouted for joy. “He was sentenced to three years behind bars with hard labour. I shed tears of joy. At last, justice had been done.”
Post Script: With Evil Stanley finally behind bars, the Erebors are slowly picking the pieces of their lives together. To make life easy for Victor, CDF enrolled him in a fresh school where he is not known and plans are also underway to relocate the family from Ajegunle. “We got a new school for Victor, said CDF’s Awogu, “and he has been recuperating. Today, he now writes and is becoming his old self, but he still faces challenges everyday on the streets. Whenever he is passing by people call him names and jeer at him.
“It has not been easy, but we thank God. Even people you think don’t know already know, and so we at CDF are currently relocating the family from the neighbourhood,” Awogu said. Speaking on her son’s recovery, Erebor said: “I am so happy today. He now talks and plays with us. He can now read and write again, but sometimes, when I remember this experience, I just wish it never happened. But I feel the penalty was too light. It was a slap on the wrist. Three years with hard labour is too lenient for such a crime, but I thank God
Topic: Child Abuse (Read 545 times)