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If April 21 had been Good Friday rather being Easter Monday, it would have been said that the beating received by Anthony Wayas, resident in Finima community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, was in commemoration of what the day stands for in Christendom, but the alleged act of defilement and incest brought against the 32-year-old man was an act abhorred by not only Christians but the society in general.
It took the intervention of policemen from Finima police station, led by the Divisional Police Officer, Mohammed Suleiman Baba, to rescue him from the mob which showed distaste for the alleged act.
Wayas is currently being interrogated by the Rivers State Police Command over an allegation brought against him by his 12-year-old niece, Karen (not real name), that he had been having carnal knowledge of her since 2013.
The girl was said to have been living with the suspect since she was a baby, after her father’s death. At that time, Wayas and his wife, who had been married for a couple of years, were yet to have a child of their own so the baby girl automatically became their daughter. Therefore, it was surprising to many that the man could turn to sexually abuse the girl regarded as his daughter.
According to a reliable source within the community, the case of defilement was reported to the chairman of Finima Youth Congress, Comrade Aladiokuma Hart, who in turn notified the DPO and took the girl to him to be put in protective custody.
The suspect, Wayas, was alleged to have threatened to kill the girl if she should expose him and had continued abuse her sexually until she could no longer keep things to herself.
Speaking with Crime Reports on her experience in the hands of the man she called father, Karen said: “Anthony is a father to me. He is my father’s brother. My father is dead and my mother is in our village at Adamawa State, married to another man now. I don’t go to school. I finished Primary Six and was supposed to start JSS1 but I was not sent to secondary school by my uncle. I usually stay at home to do house chores. I would then take my cousins to school and come back home to work. I would go back to the school in the afternoon to pick them.
“My uncle started sleeping with me in 2013. How it happened was that he would leave for work in the morning and come back in the afternoon while his wife is away at work where she works as a cleaner.
He would take the children to the big room, asking them to stay there, and would take me to the small room. He would remove my pant and push me on the bed.
“He would then remove his trousers and bring out his manhood. He would then put it inside me and sleep me (sic). I can’t count the number of times it has happened. When I told the wife, she threatened to return me to our village.
“On Saturday, April 19, my uncle asked me to mix hot and cold water for him to take his bath. He took the bucket to the bathroom and asked me to bring his sponge to him. As I took the sponge to him, he dragged me into the bathroom and had sex with me. There were people in the house but he warned me not to shout.
“The following morning, I told one woman in our compound. She, in turn, told someone and when the person interviewed me, he called in the Finima youths. I am surprised that my uncle is denying.”
But Wayas insisted that he did not have carnal knowledge of his niece. According to the man who said he was working as a truck driver, “I am surprised at what Karen said that I was having sex with her because it is not true. I have a problem with my manhood which has resulted in my inability to make love to a woman.
“I have not been experiencing erection at all. I was told by my doctor that it was caused by syphilis that I once had. He said the sexually transmitted disease was not well treated when I had it. It also resulted in my having zero sperm in my semen which the doctor said would not make me have a baby. I was given Proviron to boost my sperm count.”
Anthony confirmed that Karen had been living with him since she was less than a year old. When asked why he thought the young girl would say such a thing against him if it didn’t happen, he said: “That is the reason I am confused myself.”
Wayas’ wife, Affinity (30), also claimed that her niece-in-law did not disclose anything to her. The mother of one also said the story had been hard to believe because her husband had not slept with her for over a year as a result of erectile dysfunction.
“We have been married for 14 years but, initially, my husband had low sperm count. He married another woman after me but we got pregnant at the same time after several prayers. I have a child and the other woman has two. She has left and I am the one taking care of her children with mine.
“Karen is my husband’s niece. She came to us after her father died and she was just about a year old then. I am confused about the whole issue because my husband had been having weak erection for over a year and had not been able to make love to me. We sought medical help and the doctor recommended some drugs.
“Since the drugs are expensive, we have resorted to prayers. I am not defending my husband but I don’t understand how he was able to have sexual relationship with the girl with his current condition. And Karen did not inform me as she claimed. If she did, I would have admitted it,” the woman said.
Confirming the story, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer in Rivers State, Grace Iringe-Koko said that the case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigations, after which the suspect would be charged to court if found culpable.
