Fourteen-year-old Daniella wrung her hands nervously, looking down at the foot mat in the car in which she shared her story with our correspondent.
The strange place became necessary because she was only willing to share her story away from the earshot of her step-father, 37-year-old Francis Okezie.
Few days before, a neighbour had alerted child rights activists to the plight of Daniella over a suspicious bleeding she once noticed on the girl.
The neighbour was said to have asked Okezie about it but he simply explained it away as nothing.
When Daniella started speaking, the series of allegations she made were like bombs wrapped in words.
Okezie lives in a one-bedroomed apartment with Daniella and his own six-year-old biological daughter, a girl he had with Daniella’s mother.
When she started speaking, her words came out with trepidation.
Daniella refers to Okezie as “my dad” even though she told our correspondent that she knew that he was not her biological father.
She said, “My dad started sleeping with me in 2014. The day he started, my mother was not around that day. She was in church during a fasting and prayer programme. I was at home, so I was not in church with her.
“My mother was the one cooking for church members when they break their fast daily. I always told him I did not want to do that and he would leave me sometimes. Other times, he would still force me when I beg him to leave me alone. He said if I told anybody, I would die. I sleep on the bed while my dad and sister sleep on the floor.”
Asked if she thought her father was having the same sexual contact with her younger sister, she said no.
According to her, her mother, an Imo State indigene, has been away from home for about nine months even though she is not separated from her husband and neither are they divorced.
She was said to have left home for her village to take care of her mother.
Daniella said, “I don’t want to stay there anymore; I would like to go and live with my aunt in Ondo State. It is because of my mother that I am still living with him. I was afraid to tell my mother what he was doing.
“He forces me to do it when my mother is not around. If my mother goes out or is playing with her friends outside, he would do it.”
But that was not the worst of Daniella’s story.
In September 2016, Daniella allegedly got pregnant.
She explained that she did not know she was pregnant until her father took her to one Nurse Esther, whom our correspondent later found out is 32-year-old Esther Udoh, an auxiliary nurse who also works in a hairdressing salon.
Daniella said, “My dad just told me that day that he was taking me to Nurse Esther, who is a member of our church.
“When I got to Nurse Esther’s house, he went inside while I waited outside. When they were done talking, we left. When we got home, my dad gave me three white tablets at once.
“Some days after I took the tablet, we went for a Thursday service and I started having stomach pain. I told my mother about the pain. I told her I wanted to go to the toilet. I did but the pain was still there. Blood started coming out of me. My mother asked what happened and I told her I did not know why I was bleeding. My dad was with us in the church at the time.
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The strange place became necessary because she was only willing to share her story away from the earshot of her step-father, 37-year-old Francis Okezie.
Few days before, a neighbour had alerted child rights activists to the plight of Daniella over a suspicious bleeding she once noticed on the girl.
The neighbour was said to have asked Okezie about it but he simply explained it away as nothing.
When Daniella started speaking, the series of allegations she made were like bombs wrapped in words.
Okezie lives in a one-bedroomed apartment with Daniella and his own six-year-old biological daughter, a girl he had with Daniella’s mother.
When she started speaking, her words came out with trepidation.
Daniella refers to Okezie as “my dad” even though she told our correspondent that she knew that he was not her biological father.
She said, “My dad started sleeping with me in 2014. The day he started, my mother was not around that day. She was in church during a fasting and prayer programme. I was at home, so I was not in church with her.
“My mother was the one cooking for church members when they break their fast daily. I always told him I did not want to do that and he would leave me sometimes. Other times, he would still force me when I beg him to leave me alone. He said if I told anybody, I would die. I sleep on the bed while my dad and sister sleep on the floor.”
Asked if she thought her father was having the same sexual contact with her younger sister, she said no.
According to her, her mother, an Imo State indigene, has been away from home for about nine months even though she is not separated from her husband and neither are they divorced.
She was said to have left home for her village to take care of her mother.
Daniella said, “I don’t want to stay there anymore; I would like to go and live with my aunt in Ondo State. It is because of my mother that I am still living with him. I was afraid to tell my mother what he was doing.
“He forces me to do it when my mother is not around. If my mother goes out or is playing with her friends outside, he would do it.”
But that was not the worst of Daniella’s story.
In September 2016, Daniella allegedly got pregnant.
She explained that she did not know she was pregnant until her father took her to one Nurse Esther, whom our correspondent later found out is 32-year-old Esther Udoh, an auxiliary nurse who also works in a hairdressing salon.
Daniella said, “My dad just told me that day that he was taking me to Nurse Esther, who is a member of our church.
“When I got to Nurse Esther’s house, he went inside while I waited outside. When they were done talking, we left. When we got home, my dad gave me three white tablets at once.
“Some days after I took the tablet, we went for a Thursday service and I started having stomach pain. I told my mother about the pain. I told her I wanted to go to the toilet. I did but the pain was still there. Blood started coming out of me. My mother asked what happened and I told her I did not know why I was bleeding. My dad was with us in the church at the time.
READ MORE HERE