Ex-Bayelsa Security Adviser raped me inside office, cashier tells court

The victim in the alleged rape trial of Chief Perekeme Kpodo, a former Security Adviser to former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, has testified before a Bayelsa High Court, giving vivid accounts of how she was raped by her boss (Kpodo).

The 26-year-old lady (name withheld) on Friday testified along with her uncle and a medical doctor who examined her on June 9, 2018, a day after she was allegedly abused sexually.

In her testimony at the court, the victim said that she was invited by the accused (her boss) to his office in the hotel about 8pm on the fateful day where he locked the doors and forcefully overpowered her and raped her.

She said Kpodo had threatened her that he was the brain behind the Famou Tangbe (a dreadful security outfit’ under ex-governor Sylva and advised her to yield to his demand in her own interest.

The victim, who narrated her experience before the court, broke down in tears and subsequently forced the judge to suspend the hearing twice to enable her to regain composure.

She said that the accused person had been making indecent sexual approaches to her before the incident.

The victim stated, “I was employed as a cashier by Kpodo, the owner of the hotel. Whenever I went to submit cash to him, he usually touched me. I did not like the way he used to touch me. So, I reported it to the employment agency that helped me secure the job, and they advised me to talk to him to stop it.

“I talked to him that it was a sin and that I did not like the way he used to touch me any time I went to his off. After my protest, he stopped for some time. But after some time, he started again. That fateful day, he locked up the door and raped me. I shouted and also pleaded and he said he would not leave me until he was satisfied with me.

“So, when he finished, he asked me to clean myself and to bring his food. He did not use a condom and I was injured. He removed my pair of trousers and I kept struggling with him until he finished.

“I called my uncle who is a policeman and he came and took me home. The next day, we went to report to the incident to the Police and they gave me a medical report form which I took to a hospital.

“The hospital conducted tests, including HIV test on me and thereafter prescribed some drugs which I have been taking.”

Recall that Kpodo was on July 31, 2018, arraigned for alleged rape at State High Court 7 in Yenagoa.

Kpodo was charged with two counts of unlawful detention and rape of the victim, a 26-year-old female cashier at the hotel owned and run by the accused person.

At the resumed trial of the case, the trial judge, Justice E. Eradiri, listened to the testimony of a medical practitioner, Dr. Ikenna Nwanna, who examined the victim after she was allegedly raped.

Nwanna, a medical practitioner from the Diete Koko Memorial Hospital, Opolo, Yenagoa, told the court that the patient complained of pains in her pubic area and walked with difficulty when she came to the clinic on June 9, 2018.

The doctor said, “The patient complained that she was raped by her boss and I examined her in the presence of a female nurse. There were bruises in her vulva and due to the pains she did not allow me to touch her vaginal area.

“There were also whitish discharge which I suspect to be semen, although I did not conduct any further tests, the observations tallied with her complaint of violent sexual assault.”