A 44-year old man, Edafiake Augustine, a father of five, has been arrested by the men of the ‘B’ Division, Warri, of the Delta state police command for allegedly impregnating a 12-year -old girl.
The expectant mother (names withheld), a primary four pupil, after being taken through a pregnancy test, which confirmed her to be 32 weeks pregnant, confessed to her family that she had been lured by their neighbour, Edafiake, into s*xual act.
The Nation gathered the girl’s stepmother was the first to notice the changes in her body development as well as some new behavioural patterns that could suggest pregnancy in her.
Her father, who also started paying attention to his wife’s observations, took the pregnant girl for a pregnancy test and found out that his daughter had been pregnant for three months.
When sounded out by her family, the girl told her family that their neighbour, Augustine, had been taking advantage of her, seizing moments when her step-mother was out to lure her into bed, adding that her abuser had been giving her between N1,000 and N1,500 each time he slept with her, warning her not to tell her parents.
Although he denied ever having s*x with the girl when confronted by her family, he seemed to have opened up to his own relatives, who had reached out to the pregnant girl’s family to plead for settlement.
Corroborating the allegation against Augustine, his wife, in her statement, had alleged that she had been suspicious of a foul play between her husband and the adolescent.
Meanwhile, the family of the pregnant girl, it was gathered, would either have Augustine marry their daughter, paying the full bride price, according to Urhobo tradition, or be made to face legal action.
When The Nation visited the ‘B’ Division on Friday, the accused was still being held in custody, with police authorities insisting that he would be prosecuted.
