A distraught woman and kidnap victim has narrated what she describes as a painful experience that would never leave her:
Kidnappers raped her daughter before her very eyes, in the course of their 52-day captivity in the hands of their abductors.
This was despite that ransom had already been paid.
“They collected the ransom and told us we were free to go.
“We thought our suffering was over, but it was not.
“They raped my daughter before my eyes. It is a painful memory that will never leave me,” Comfort Ezekiel, said in the interview with Leadership.
She and her daughter were among the persons kidnapped from their community in Kachia local government area of Kaduna State.
“They collected the ransom and told us we were free to go. We thought our suffering was over, but it was not. They raped my daughter before my eyes. It is a painful memory that will never leave me,” she said.
“We slept on the bare ground and survived on little food and water. We trekked for hours through the forest and lived every day with the fear that we could be killed at any moment”.
“No mother should witness what I saw. I cannot forget it. Even though we have returned home, we are not the same people who were taken away. The pain remains in our hearts,” she said.
“My daughter is still in pain. She has not recovered physically or emotionally from what happened to her.
“We are praying that she gets the medical attention and support she needs,” she said.
She appealed to the federal and Kaduna State governments, security agencies and humanitarian organisations to provide medical, psychological and social support for victims of kidnapping, noting that many survivors return home with deep emotional and physical scars.
Residents of the affected community expressed concern over the worsening security situation in the area. They urged security agencies to step up operations against bandit groups terrorising communities in Southern Kaduna and other parts of the state.
Cami Ezenwa is a Writer, Editor, Publicist, Biographer and Journalism Trainer
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