Police Free Former Youth Leader Arrested For Raping 11-Year-Old Girl, NGO Alleges

Basic Rights Counsel Initiative (BRCI) has revealed that a former Youth Leader of Ward 3 in one of the leading political parties in the country, Augustine Sunday Bassey aka Kufre, who was arrested on the 10th of July, 2017, for raping an 11 year old girl around the Lagos Street axis of Calabar South LGA, has been recently released from police detention under very suspicious circumstances.

Bassey who was detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Calabar, was alleged to have raped the child in his shop under the pretense of running an errand for him.

For fear of what her mother might do to her, the victim confided in her cousin who then disclosed the matter to her mother who went ahead to report the matter to the Police Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).

BRCI had immediately stepped into the matter and asked the police to charge the matter to court soon after facilitating medical treatment for the child and obtaining medical report. .

However, information filtering in has it that the family of the victim has been under pressure to drop the case with the promise of receiving compensation from the family of the suspect.

Father of the victim, Peter Udo, had visited BRCI’s office in the company of the victim’s mother and another relative, appealing to the NGO to drop the matter as they were no longer interested in the case, but will rather settle amicably with the suspect who had offered N300,000 compensation.

All efforts to counsel them on the need to press for justice for their child and other alleged victims, proved abortive as the family insisted on settling out of court and receiving the said amount.

In a statement, BRCI said “If this is allowed to fly, then we have a disaster on our hands, as perpetrators of rape against our children will continue to walk free, and that means our children are not safe. .

We are calling on the Commissioner for Police and other relevant stakeholders in the State to do all within their power to ensure that the suspect is made to face the full weight of the law.”