The victim in the alleged rape trial of Chief Richard Kpodo, a former Security Adviser to Ex-Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa, on Friday testified before a Bayelsa High Court giving vivid accounts of how she was sexually abused.
The 26-year-old (name withheld) testified alongside her uncle and a medical doctor, who examined her on June 9, after she was allegedly raped the previous day.
In her testimony, the victim said she was invited by the accused to his office in the hotel at about 8pm, after which he locked the doors and forcefully overpowered and raped her.
According to the victim, Kpodo had threatened that he was the brain behind the ‘Fantangbe Security Outfit’ under former Governor Sylva and advised her to give in to his demands.
The victim, while narrating her experience before the court, broke into tears. The judge had to suspend the hearing twice to enable the victim regain composure.
She sad the accused had been making indecent sexual advances at her, before the incident occurred.
She said: “I was employed as a cashier and whenever I go to submit cash to him he touches me and I reported it to the employment agency that helped me get the job, and they advised me to talk to him to stop it.
“I talked to him that and he stopped for some time. He started again, and that day he locked up the door and forcefully had sex [with me]. I shouted and also pleaded and he said he would not leave me until he was satisfied.
“So when he finished, he asked me to clean myself and bring his food. He did not use a condom and I was injured. He removed my 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 Police and they gave me a medical report form, which I took to the hospital.
“The hospital conducted HIV test and prescribed some drugs which I have taken,” she victim said amidst sobs.
On July 31, 2018, Kpodo was arraigned on the accusation of rape at the State High Court 7 in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
Kpodo was charged on two counts of unlawful detention and rape of the victim, a 26-year-old female cashier at the hotel run by the accused.
At the resumed trial of the rape case, the trial judge, Justice E. Eradiri listened to the testimony of a medical practitioner who examined the victim after she was allegedly raped.
Dr Ikenna Nwanna, a medical practitioner from 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 patient complained that she was raped by her boss and I examined her in the presence of a female nurse, and there were bruises in her vulva and due to the pains she did not allow me to touch her vaginal area.
“There was also whitish discharge which I suspected to be semen, although I did not conduct any further tests; the observations tallies with the complain of violence sexual assault,” Nwanna said.
The defence counsel in the rape trial, Julius Iyekoroghe, cross-examined the three witnesses.
The prosecuting counsel, Samuel Arthur, sought an adjournment to enable him call two more witnesses to testify in the case.
The defence counsel, who alleged that he was being intimidated by the prosecuting counsel, informed the court that the prosecution had denied his counsel access to medical care against the order of the court.
Reacting to the allegation, the judge, Justice E. Eradiri directed that his earlier order granting access to medical care for the accused be complied with.
“There is a subsisting order on granting the accused access to medical services at a government hospital. My order must be complied with and I want the prosecution to ensure that the orders of this court are obeyed,” Eradiri said.
He adjourned the case to October 5, 2018 to listen to the two additional witnesses called by the prosecution.