In an interview with AJIBADE OMAPE, Edozie Christian, 44, a spare parts salesman at Lagos’ Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market, the father of Chigozie Edozie who was sexually assaulted by hotelier Opara Macdonal discusses the incidents that led to his 16-year-old son’s mental instability after he admitted to being sodomized by a Lagos hotel owner.
IREPORT247NEW reported that hotelier Opara Macdonald acknowledged that he had sexually assaulted sixteen-year-old Chigozie Edozie, a Lagos secondary school student who went insane after coming forward and claiming that he had sexually assaulted him in the Isheri Oshun neighborhood.
Opara Macdonald was detained by Lagos State’s Zone 2 Police Command on charges of having illegal carnal knowledge of a teenage boy.
The kid apparently told his mother that he had a confession to make before the New Year, which sparked the episode that startled his parents.
After learning that the head of a well-known hotel in the neighborhood had enticed him and four of his classmates to his apartment, sodomised them, and threatened to kill them if they told anybody, the mother reluctantly complied with her son’s request for anonymity only to become alarmed.
Opara Macdonald admitted to the crime that he has sex with the teenager twice.
He said, “I swear with my life that is only sex that I had with Chigozie Edozie, that I never used him for any ritual.”
However, Edozie Christian, the boy’s father said, “After the confession, my son started acting like a crazy person.”
How did your son confess to being sexually molested by the hotelier, Ajibade asked?
“I went to my village in the South-East during the December period when my son, confessed to my wife that one man called Okpara McDonald molested him. I had to leave my assignment and rush down to Lagos on the 5th of January instead of my initial plan to return on the 15th of the same month.
“When I arrived in Lagos, I asked my wife to explain what happened because she initially told me how everything happened, but I needed to hear it face-to-face. She told me that my son confessed to her that one man molested him through his anus, and he threatened that he would die if he talked to anyone. She also said the hotelier claimed to have connections all over the country and the world.
“Again, I was told the man threatened that my son would go mad if he confessed. After my son disclosed this to my wife, the man attacked my son, and my son began misbehaving because he confessed. My wife had to run to prayer warriors who prayed before my son became stable,” Edozie Christian, the victim’s father Responded.
What happened afterwards?
“I made an entry at the Isheri Osun Police Station immediately after I came back from my trip. I went directly to the Divisional Police Officer and made an entry. The DPO then confirmed that such things happen, but he could not confirm it.
“However, he gave me a paper and asked me to visit Mirabel Medical Centre in Ikeja. At the medical centre, I was told that there was a penetration through my son’s anus two times, but they did not hand over the report to me because they claimed it was confidential, and that they would send it to the police station that referred me to them.
“I immediately went to the DPO, and my wife and son were asked to write statements. At that time, my son was normal. But after writing the statement, within two days, my son went mad and began to misbehave. As of now, I’ve not been sleeping in my house since January because my son is being tormented spiritually.
Did your son show any sign of trauma or unusual behavior before his confession?
“The school I sent my son to is the best, and I’ve spent millions just for his secondary education. His primary education is not included. My son is intelligent and very smart, and in my lineage and my wife’s lineage, there is nothing like madness. He never displayed any unusual behavior; this whole thing started after my son confessed to his mother.”
Was your son working in the hotel owned by this man or how did your son meet him?
“No, my son does not work there, Christain responded. “He just completed his secondary education. One day, my son’s classmates, about three of them, called him saying that there was an update, but my son said he was not interested. According to my son, one night, these classmates called him again, talking about these updates; my son asked them if it was TikTok or online trading, and they told him, yes; that was when my son went away with his phone and laptop.
“On his way, he gathered with the three boys from his class, he took a soft drink because he doesn’t take alcohol. My son said after he took the drink, he became unconscious, and then they took advantage of him, put him in the man’s car and the man drove to his house. The man had carnal knowledge of my son through his anus. I believe he has been doing it before, but it’s because I am serving a living God, who exposed the man because it’s an abomination where I come from. When my son came back, he became okay and began to confess to his mother. He did not confess to me directly.”
Was it the same day the incident happened that he confessed to your wife?
“No. It was after about three weeks or over. My son said it happened to him twice. I don’t know whether he drugged or charmed my son, but my son said the man had done it to many of his friends and they were the ones who called him for online trading and TikTok updates. My son is a 16-year-old boy, and very innocent.”
Has your son received medical treatment since that time?
Christain said, “Yes. As of now, my son is still on medical treatment. The police followed us to a psychiatric hospital, where we were told that he was mentally disorganized. They called it trauma.
“I have spent a lot, but by the grace of God, my prayer is that he will be healed. My issue now is for the police to make the man undo whatever he did to my son that made him run mad because right now, my son is better but still having mental issues, and the trauma is still disturbing him. I would say the thing goes off and on.”
Did the other boys who called your son for the update experience any mental issue?
No, they did not have any mental issue because they did not open up. One of them and my son opened up. He said exactly what my son said, and the police also invited the boy and his mother to Zone 2.
What was your immediate reaction when you heard about your son being molested by a man?
“My immediate reaction was to go to the police station and make an entry because I could not do it alone. If it were just between myself and the man, I would have killed him and killed myself, but I can’t take the law into my hands which was why I went to the police station.”
After you reported the case to the police, what has been their response?
“At first, I reported at Isheri Osun Police Station, but they were not handling the matter the appropriate way initially. I waited for two weeks without any meaningful results from them. I started wondering what was happening and kept visiting the station every day. The next thing I heard was that the lawyer of the accused took the case to Zone 2 in a bid to pervert justice.”
“They called my wife and asked her to come down to Zone 2 with my son and they told her that she would be told what to write down. I told them to decline. I went ahead and called my brother who decided to accompany me to the place so that we could meet the AIG at Zone 2. The AIG demanded the case file from Isheri Osun. I saw the culprit in front of the AIG office and pleaded with him to undo what he did to my son so that he (my son) could be okay.”
“While at Zone 2, I discovered that the man, his lawyer, and the IPO in charge of the case had connived to remove evidence from the case file; the witness statement from the other boy and the video interview he did. It was only my wife’s and son’s statements that were left in the file. However, in Zone 2, I met truthful people there, who exposed the man for what he did. That was when the accused confessed and told the truth about how it happened. The AIG requested the original file from Isheri Osun and sent his boys down to retrieve it.”
Is the suspect still in police custody?
“Yes, he and the IPO were immediately arrested for trying to pervert justice and terminate substantial evidence. I do not know if the IPO is still in custody, but I know he was also arrested. I have the confession video that the officers recorded. He cannot deny what he did; he confessed. He said he was sorry, and that he only did it (sodomised my son) two times and that he used a condom. He was denying it when he was being interviewed but inside the station, he told the truth. At first, he told my son that he had connections and that there was nothing anybody could do to him.
“He claimed that if anybody tried to do anything, he would afflict the person with madness or jail the person. He must have spent a lot to bring me and the case down, but I thank God the law is taking its course. At the police station, the accused knelt in front of me, pleading that he would do anything possible to make sure my son was okay; he also promised to fly my son to any part of the country. He was talking like someone proud of what he did.”
After his arrest, have you gone to court?
“I have not gone to court, but I think we will because it was just recently that he was interviewed. We will still go to court, and he will go to jail.”
What do you want the government to do about this issue?
“I want the government to make sure they handle this issue very well and ensure the suspect is punished for his offence. He must pay me because the damage is too much,” Christain responded.
AJIBADE OMAPE, PUNCH.