In an interesting development, the Lagos state government has just revealed that trial of Don-Chima George and Olusegun Rasaq will continue despite the appeal for a case withdrawal by the victim they raped. George and Rasaq were accused of rape by a 24-year-old woman in February this year, whose drink was spiked in a nightclub before she was taken to a hotel in Lekki, owned by George’s father.
The case had rampantly generated a fury online, calling on authorities to serve justice against George and Rasaq. Video clips where the brother of the victim was engulfed in anger as he interrogated the rapists (they are rapists) went viral, not to mention enraged internet users mobbing review pages of the hotel to deliberately deposit bad reviews.
At the resumed hearing of the case at the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Thursday June 13th, the victime asked for the case to be withdrawn in a letter written to the presiding judge, Justice Abiola Soladoye. In the letter dated June 3rd and addressed to the Director of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), the victim said her decision for the case to be withdrawn is based on “intervention of family members” and for the sake of her integrity.
Intervention of family members, my foot. Before this withdrawal letter, I remember reading sketchy stories online how the father of one of the rapists was trying to intimidate the victim to drop the case. It’s all sketchy, which is why I can’t pull out a source. Anyway, I’m glad that the Lagos statement government has insisted that trial of these rapists will continue. It’s a crime against the state, and it’s within the purview of the government to see that justice is meted out, which will serve as a deterrent to others (future) rapists.
When Bernard Dayo isn’t writing about pop culture, he’s watching horror movies and reading comics and trying to pretend his addiction to Netflix isn’t a serious condition.
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