A Yaounde based businessman is denying charges of raping an
eight-year-old girl and is instead insisting that the parents of the child want
to ruin his life out of jealousy over his prosperity in business.
When the case came up for hearing in a Yaounde court last
week, the accused whose names we got simply as Mr. Yaya told the court that his
and the family of Madam Beyala rented different apartments in the same
compound.
On the
day the incident was purported to have occurred, Yaya said he was out of the compound
preoccupied in his business place and came home late that ill-fated day by 10
PM. The rape was said to have occurred on that day at about 4pm.
Mr.
Yaya, who has been in pretrial detention since the rape occurred four months
ago, narrated how his neighbours came to get an apartment in the same building
with him.
He said
when he was looking for a house in that neighbourhood, the building they now
occupy was uncompleted. He spent money to finish the construction work before
he packed into one of the apartments. The family of Beyala came later and
occupied the remaining acant apartment.
As a
businessman, and always on the move, Yaya said he had little attachment to his
neighbours whom he barely knew, talk less of being in close relationship with
the neighbour’s children. He then wondered why he should be associated and even
accused when such a bizarre thing like raping a minor of eight years occurs.
The
magistrate and Mr. Yaya’s lawyer both concurred that the testimony of the
businessman and his denial of guilt had been consistent since the case was
reported just as his continued denial of having committed such a criminal act.
Madam
Beyala, mother to the child for her part, told the court that their daughter
left the house in the evening of the ill-fated day and went to use an outdoor
toilet that is shared by all tenants in the compound.
After
sometime, the family noticed that the child had overstayed her time in the
toilet so the entire family which was agitated started searching for the child.
The found her coming from the apartment of their neighbour Mr. Yaya.
The mother told the court that apart from the child looking
traumatised and devastated, she was also unable to walk properly because of the
pain the child was feeling in her sex organ and in other parts of her body.
Therefore,
the parents rushed the child to the hospital where a medical examination proved
that the child had been subjected to a wild sex ordeal.
The
child told the parents that when she was in the toilet, somebody she could not
recognize used a piece of cloth that was sprayed with a substance to blind fold
her. She lost her senses and by the time she regained her consciousness, she
found herself in Mr. Yaya’s house.
The
first person she came in contact with after she regained consciousness was Mr.
Yaya, reason why she accused the man of having raped and molested her.
The
mother to the child also told the court that when the neighbour was confronted
with the accusation, he disappeared and only came back four days later,
claiming that he went out of town on a business trip. This ‘disappearance’
further heightened suspicion reason why Mr. Yaya was arrested as principal
suspect and has been in detention for the past four months.
To buttress his claim of jealousy, Mr. Yaya told the court
that his detention prompted his wife to vacate the apartment his family
occupied and the whole building has now been taken over by the Beyala family.
The
case was adjourned to December 19, for final verdict.
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