A non-governmental organisation, Project Alert on Violence against Women has taken custody of two minor allegedly defiled by the Director of Light of Hope Orphanage, Mr Atunde, following his arrest by the Zone 2 Police Command on Wednesday.
Project Alert had on March 26 written a petition to Zone 2 after officials of a private secondary school where the minors were students made complaints that both girls had been molested.
“On Friday last week, 13-year-old (name withheld) came late to school crying and not walking well. On close observation, they saw a trickle of blood coming down her legs. When asked what happened to her, she said, ‘Daddy forced me to have s*x with him.’ according to the petition.
“She pleaded with the officials not to tell Mrs. Atunde; she was afraid Atunde would be informed and could drive her away from the orphanage,” the petition said.
The petition also claimed that the NGO had earlier received a complaint from a former cook of the orphanage, Mrs. Akintunde, concerning Atunde’s misbehaviour.
The cook had alleged that Atunde fired her late last year when she caught him sleeping with one of the female orphans.
Akintunde, as well as representatives of Project Alert and Atunde, it was learnt, met investigators at Zone 2 on Thursday.
“The girls are presently in our care, we have taken over their welfare. We got a document from the police to have them examined at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. They have been examined by doctors today but still have to undergo more tests tomorrow,” Executive director of Project Alert, Mrs. Josephine Effuah-Chukwuma, said.
“We intend to notify the Ogun State Ministry of Women Affairs formally because they licensed Atunde to operate that orphanage. It is important that the ministry investigates what is going on there because the girls have already said they are not the only victims there.”
Commenting on the matter, Police Public Relations Officer Zone Two, Mr. Femi Balogun, said, “The investigation is ongoing; Atunde is in our custody.
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