THE operatives of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons have arrested a 37-years-old man for the alleged raping of his wife’s cousin serving as their house help.

The suspect a staff of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Abuja, was alleged to have forcefully had carnal knowledge of the girl in his bedroom while the wife was away in school.

He was paraded by the Director, Public Enlightenment of NAPTIP, Mr Josiah Emerole alongside three other suspects arrested for various allegations bothering on trafficking of persons, buying of human beings and domestic violence.

A 43-year-old woman, Stephany Isaksson Bassey, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State who lives in Sweden, was among those paraded for alleged buying of a child.

Emerole said: “On Thursday, September 13, 2018, Mr Yusuf allegedly raped his wife’s cousin who lives with them in their Jikwoyi, Abuja residence.

“The suspect allegedly raped the 17-year-old girl that morning before leaving for work. He subsequently locked the girl inside the house and left with the keys of the house.

“The victim who claimed to have been a virgin until that incident had to escape from the house through the window. The wife was away when the incident occurred.

“When the suspect was arrested, operatives of the Agency took him to his house same day and recovered his bed sheet with blood stains.

“He could not explain why there were blood stains on the floor of his house and on his mattress. Investigations are on-going,” he said.

The suspect, when interrogated by journalists denied having carnal knowledge of the girl, saying he only suspected that “a stranger might have attacked her” and left before his arrival at him.

On the allegation of human buying, Emerole said: “The case has to do with alleged buying of a child involving one 43-year-old Woman Stephany Isaksson Bassey, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State who lives in Sweden.

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“On August 23, 2018, Stephany Isaksson Bassey was brought into the Agency by the officers of the Intelligence and International Cooperation (IICU) after she was handed over by the Embassy of Sweden in Nigeria on the suspicion that the child she came with was not her own.

“She had gone to the Embassy to procure travel documents for a two-month-old Baby (Boy) whom she claimed was her child. When she was brought to the Agency, she insisted that the baby was delivered by her.

“She claimed to have become pregnant for her husband in Sweden but that medical examination could not detect the pregnancy over there. She was, therefore, advised to return home to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State where the pregnancy would be detected and she will be assisted to deliver safely.

“She claimed that on return and true to the promise, a baby was detected by a midwife in Uyo who she said told her that the fat in her body was too much that a scan and other medical and scientific examinations would not be able to penetrate to detect the baby therein.

“It was in such a ramshackle facility in Uyo that she claimed to have delivered the baby naturally. However, she never fed the baby who is 3 months old now with her breast milk even for one day.

“A DNA has been conducted on the woman and the child and the result which we have received clearly indicated that there is no biological relationship between the woman and the baby.

“Following this result we have arrested her so she could tell us the source of the baby. The baby is being taken care of by our caregivers while investigations continue.

Meanwhile, Mrs Bassey insisted that she is the biological mother of the child, delivered of an ectopic pregnancy.

Emelore, however, said all the cases were contrary to various sections of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015 (TIPPEA) and the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 (VAPPA).

“As soon as investigations are over on these cases, the suspects would be charged to court,” he said.

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