Widow demands prosecution of lecturer who ‘raped her daughter’

A widow who has daughter at the Rivers State College of Health Science, Port Harcourt, Mrs Lemon Gbara, has called on the Rivers State Police Command to arrest a lecturer (names withheld) who allegedly assaulted her child.

In a petition filed to the human rights desk of Rivers State Police Command, she alleged that her daughter, a first year student of the institution, was raped by a lecturer in the department of Dental Surgery.

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Gbara accused the lecturer of constantly harassing her daughter.

She said on 16th April, 2021, her daughter was approached by the randy lecturer who appealed to her to assist him carry a generator from a packing store close to his office.

She explained that soon after her daughter entered the store, the suspect dragged her into his office locked the door and forcefully had sex with her.

She said that her daughter’s shout for help did not yield any result.

She alleged that the lecturer, thereafter, threatened her daughter that if she tells anybody or refuse to comply any time he needs her, he would make sure she does not graduate from the institution.

She regretted that her daughters who is barely four months in the institution is being subjected to trauma and emotional pains, which is making her to contemplate suicide.

She called on the Rivers State Government to wade into the matter and ensure that the lecturer is brought to book.

She expressed fear that if nothing is done, other female students will become victims of rape.

In the meantime, a lawyer with Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign Barrister IK Alexander has called on the Provost of the college to cooperate with the Police in the State and ensure that the suspect submits himself to the Police for investigation.

Efforts to speak with the lecturer proved abortive as he refused to pick his call.

Our reporter learnt that the human right desk of the State Police Command has written to the suspect to turn himself in for investigation.