THE people of Immringi community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State are  in  shock following the allegation  of  incestuous relationship between a middle aged man, Bamekpa, and his 12 year old daughter  (names withheld). Bamekpa allegedly started having canal knowledge of the girl at the age of 11. The girl allegedly  took in, before  the father reportedly aborted the four-month-old pregnancy that is now threatening  her life.Relatives accused Bamekpe  of  a history of incestuous behaviour as he was  alleged to have slept with his biological sisters, while also having carnal  knowledge of his cousin’s daughter who he allegedly forced  to commit abortion five times. In the case of his daughter, the lid blew  open when the victim ran away from home to seek help from her uncle, one David Apigi,  following her deteriorating health condition as a result of complications from  the abortion.Sunday Vanguard  gathered that it was the girl’s  stepmother that discovered she was pregnant and informed the father who then handed her over to a lady who took her to a  doctor for an abortion.Then the girl returned home to discover she was bleeding from her private part, and ‘again’ the father took her to the same doctor who then took her to other places. The uncle said: “My niece told me the trauma she had been passing through in her father’s house and how the father had turned her to his second wife.“She said he had sex with her to the extent that he aborted her four-month-old pregnancy. She ran to me and begged me not to allow her to return to her father’s house because she was tired. I decided to accommodate her. The father started looking for her without knowing she was with me.” In her statement to Operation Rescue, OPER, a human rights group, the embattled girl  she ran away from  home since there was nobody to help her as she could no longer bear her father’s abominable acts. She  narrated: “There was nobody to help me. He  (father) kept doing it despite my efforts to stop him. It was a painful and violent experience. I ran away from home because there was a time I bled so much from my private part.“When I became pregnant and he heard about it, he handed me over to a lady doctor who took me through an unsuccessful process of abortion. I have been suffering series of health issues  since  after the abortion.”Her uncle, who claimed to have  reported the matter to the Kolo Police Station in the area, disclosed that, through the help of his cousin, one Rex Ogboku, in Abuja, the matter was reported to the Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA. However, he said he decided to contact the Operation Rescue, OPER, as FIDA was  slow in handling the matter but regretted the manner the police were also going about with the case following the arrest of the suspect, adding that the suspect had  been begging him for a soft landing while in police detention. The head of OPER, Mrs  Elizabeth Egbe, who also lamented the condition of the girl- disclosed that investigation  showed that she had been perpetually raped  impregnated and had an  abortion that had  left her with health problems as the abortion was performed by a quack doctor. She urged the police to thoroughly investigate the matter and get to the root of the case, stressing that all those involved should be arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others. The OPER head  called on the society to protect the girl-child. The spokesperson  for the Bayelsa State Police Command, Asinim Butswatt, could not be reached  to confirm the incident.

Source: Vanguard