Guards are supposed to keep watch over people and control access to where they are employed to guard. This is why it is surprising that a guard attached to the Engineering School, Osara, a wing of Kogi State Polytechnic, would be the alleged rapist of a 17-year-old Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) student, one of those he is supposed to be protecting.
Although there are some gaps in the story as narrated by the victim’s sister, at least two facts were established: one is that the student was raped. And the other is why the school authorities are still keeping the particular security guard simply identified as Macaulay, who had been allegedly involved in a similar incident in the institution in 2014. Not a few persons had expected that the guard would be sacked after the 2014 incident.
The victim’s elder sister said the incident happened on September 13 when the IJMB student and others went to read in the school hall at about midnight. She said: “The light went off and students started leaving the hall for their hostels. My sister was with a friend of hers, named Moses, who we all know well at home. They were packing their books when the guard came to them in the hall and accused them of having sex in the hall. He started beating them.
“In the process, the guard tried to pull off my sister’s dress, but Moses tried to defend her. It was at that point that the guard used his torch and hit Moses on the head. He tore my sister’s dress and began to snap fake pictures of them. He threatened to report them to the school authorities. He then seized Moses’ phone and asked him to go and bring money for his broken torch.”
The guard then allegedly persuaded Moses to go to his hostel while he undertook to escort the girl to hers. On getting close to the hostel, the guard allegedly threatened to take the pictures that he took after he had torn her dress to the dean unless she agreed to sleep with him. She continued: “She refused and he threatened her with a cutlass, and then carried her and dragged her across the road to the staff quarters. Eventually, he overpowered and took her to his quarters, where he raped her.” The victim reportedly went to the school clinic where it was confirmed that she was raped.
Since the suspect had been arrested by the police, we expect nothing but diligent investigation and possible prosecution to get justice for the victim. Although the incident looked too weird to be believed, there is still need to dig deep down with a view to getting to the root of the matter. While one may query why it was only the two students that were in the reading hall at the time the guard came, that is not a sufficient reason for anyone to blackmail them by accusing them of having sex. And even if truly they were having sex, the guard did not appear to have handled the matter as an uninterested party only out to do his duty.
Moreover, did the guard hit Moses on the head, as alleged? Did the guard tear the victim’s dress? If he didn’t, what would she gain by saying he did? If the school clinic confirmed she was raped, could that have happened between her and Moses that the victim’s sister claimed they all know back home?
This is a matter involving a minor. If her sister’s account is what actually transpired, we can imagine the psychological trauma the victim would have been subjected to. If the school authorities and the police could save the suspect from the jungle justice that other students on campus wanted to subject him to, then, they must be ready to get justice for the victim.
Above all, the school has to do something about its security architecture. From the look of things, what is on ground security-wise does not appear adequate to protect the students, particularly the minors there, from randy guards and other marauders.
Credit: The Nation
