Paul Iloh was eight years older than Agnes (not real name) when he drugged her multiple times, raping as many times on a coaxed date in Madala, Niger.
Both were neighbours of a community in Abuja.
Now 15, Agnes could remember what happened July, 12, 2020: how Iloh persuaded her to ditch that Sunday service and follow him; how they took two rides on motorcycles to Madala, and then a cab to the Abuja-Kaduna road; how he brought out a bottle of Fearless in his house, juiced it up with something.
The drink worked. But it didn’t erase her memory.
“All I remember was that my underwear was removed and he raped me. I tried to shout but he shut me mouth with his hands,” she told the FCT High Court at Kubwa, Abuja, on Sept 21.
Iloh, however, didn’t stop the rape there. He decided to dull her memory the more.
”He took me to a beer parlour and gave me ogogoro. Again I felt dizzy. He then took me back to his house and rape me again,” she said.
Ages was able to find her way home later, violated.
Her parents reported the crime to the police, and then took her to hospital.
Cross-examining her, Celestine Mbam-Okeh, counsel to the suspect, asked her if she knew Iloh laced her drink, and if she had had sexual intercourse before.
She told him when she drank the “Fearless”, she felt weak.
Justice Kezziah Ogbonnaya adjourned the matter until Nov. 8 for continuation of hearing
Sections 1, 47 and 48 of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 provides 12 years or life jail for anybody convicted of rape.