Helen (surname withheld) will be 20 years on
October 10. But she now bears a burden that is
too heavy for her age. She was gang-Molested in
January this year and was diagnosed with HIV
last month. Due to the heart-rending experience
and the medical diagnosis that followed, the once
cheerful and vivacious Helen now wears a long
face as she carries with her the psychological
burden of the experience.
After secondary school in 2008, Helen wanted to
further her education, but being the fifth of 11
children comes with its own challenge. “Na the
condition of no money, na im prevent me from
going further,” said Helen when asked why she
had not bothered to continue her education.
Despite her background, Helen was unperturbed.
Determined that she would return to school some
day, she began working as a cleaner in a big firm
at Lekki, Lagos, from where she hoped to save for
school. She had worked there for almost a year
before the tragic episode that altered her life
dramatically took place. It was with a deep
emotion that she recounted her ordeal.
All was quiet and the street lonely early that
Tuesday morning when the unsuspecting lady set
out from her Bariga home to resume her morning
shift at work. It was at exactly 5:05am, the same
time she often left home everyday to board a bus
some streets away to Lagos Island. But that
morning, something was not right. She noticed
five young men lurking about as she got out of
her street’s gate. On seeing their fearsome
appearance, her heart skipped a beat.
Consumed by fear, her first instinct was to turn
and run back into the street, but it was too late.
She had been spotted. “They blocked and grabbed
me. They pointed a gun at me and told me to be
quiet and do everything they said I should do, or
else they would harm me,” Helen said before she
was overcome by emotion. After a short silence
that seemed ages, she added: “I tried to shout
but when I looked around and did not see
anybody except those guys, I was so afraid and
did as they said… They, then, carried me to one
corner by the side of the street… (She bowed her
head). They asked me to lie down.” Helen went
silent again with head still bowed, to hold back
tears. She said: “I begged them to release me,
that I was on my way to work and that I didn’t
have anything to offer them. They told me to shut
up, saying they would waste me, if I didn’t like
my life. I begged them to spare my life.” Her plea
touched a member of the gang; he said she
should be freed. But his statement fell on deaf
ears, for Helen’s other attackers were determined
to carry out their task to the letter. Fighting back
tears, she said: “The others said he could leave if
he wanted to; they then collected my handbag,
my purse and the N5,000 inside with my two
phones – one was in my hand. I used its
torchlight; the other was in my Jeans pocket.
They removed the phone, pulled off my trousers
and started violating me (Silence)…They asked
me to pull off my clothes. I begged them.”
Her face became contorted as the agony of the
incident swelled her being. Helen became silent
again. One could see she was fighting to hide
several conflicting emotions as she recounted.
“But was there no way you could have shouted
for help?” the reporter asked in an attempt to
douse the tension. “There was no way I could
have shouted because there were five of them
against only me… I was so scared. So, I just kept
begging them to release me.” As her attackers
were beginning to enjoy their violent act, they
spotted another young man and lady walking
towards them. Helen’s attackers also pounced on
the couple, robbing them of their valuables at
gunpoint. Two of them also Molested the second
lady. By that time, Helen’s eyes were already
swollen, from her trauma and obvious
helplessness in the hands of the crooks. The two
men Molested the girl while the other three
continued Molesting me,” she said in a subdued
voice. On how she felt when her violators had
their turns, Helen, in tears, said: “I swallowed my
scream, felt very bad and closed my eyes as each
of them…(Silence). For my mind e be like say
make I get knife take kill them, because it was a
very painful thing to experience. Before they
started, I had asked if they had condoms but they
said ‘No’. ‘’
After they finished, all I could think of was
running to the hospital and getting some drugs or
treatment that could wash everything away from
my whole being: my physical body, heart, soul
and all. (Again, she lapsed into another silence). I
felt very bad and, somehow, dirty.” After the
incident She ran back home to her sister. Both
ladies cried in silence; they felt ashamed to share
with neighbours what had happened. As if that
was not enough, while nursing the psychological
trauma of the assault she got, another shocker
happened to her on the same day. Helen
discovered that her violators were her neighbours.
“I recognised them: two of them live opposite my
house. Before that time, I did not notice them. I
see them every day and cringe; I’m always in fear
each time I see them,” she said. Three months
after Besides the traumatic molest, Helen has
fallen into a worrisome medical condition. Last
month, she was diagnosed with HIV at the
General Hospital where she was rushed to after
she was Molested. Before then, Helen said she
had been “negative”, adding that she knew
through a test she did some time back. “When I
went there when it first happened, they asked me
some questions, gave me some drugs and told me
to come back after three months for more tests.
The three-month period lapsed last month. The
hospital did the followup test and found that I
have become HIV-’positive’. ‘’I felt bad, very bad;
and I cried. In fact, the doctor tried to calm my
mind; but I kept on crying that ‘I’m finished’. I
wanted to take my life because I never expected
this to happen to me. They told me life still goes
on and that I can still live my life to the fullest.
They say people with HIV are can be healthier
than those who are negative with the help of
drugs. Before I left the hospital, I cried and
begged them to help me because I did not plan to
live on drugs for rest of my life,” she said. With
tears dripping freely and looking straight at the
reporter as if to find answers on her face, she
continued: “What kind of life can one live now? I
feel so bad; I feel so weak and I am asking
myself: what did I do wrong in this life to deserve
this? What will happen to my dream of going to
school? I have not been able to save for school,
and I now am treating HIV.”
The news of her status has added more sadness
to her family who were still recovering from the
shock of her violation. “When my parents heard
the news, they were very sad and they all cried,”
Helen said amid tears. The 20-year-old has since
turned an advocate, seeking justice against her
attackers. After living in fear for months, the
dread of the rapists forced her and her sister to
relocate last weekend. The move has emboldened
to seek for justice, feeling she is beyond their
reach. “I want justice. I need help. I want those
men to go to jail for what they did to me and
perhaps many other ladies in the area. These
people cannot be allowed to go free. Everybody
knows them as thieves in the area; they do not
go to work or school but just hang around all day
doing nothing. Still nobody has done anything
about it. It is almost as if they are using charms.
Their father is a very aggressive landlord. I see
them always and I’m always in fear; that’s why
we packed out of the house last weekend. You
won’t believe that till we packed, my attackers
are still using my phone,” she said. Helen’s sister,
Stella, who was also in her 20s, said the whole
incident has left the family heart-broken. Stella,
who learnt a comforting hand to her sister, said:
“We felt so weak and very unhappy, but there is
nothing else we can do but to support her and
pray that those crooks would be made to pay and
suffer for what they did to my sister.”
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