How we found a condom, sperm in my daughter’s private part – Mother of late Premier Academy student speaks

Nothing could be as grievous as watching one’s child die. This is especially more pathetic when such a death is mysterious and could have been avoided. But for Mrs. Vivian Akpagher, that was exactly what happened as she watched helplessly her beloved daughter, Karen-Happuch Akpagher,  die a painful death.

For the first time since her daughter died, Mrs. Akpagher spoke out publicly on the circumstances of Karen’s death.

Addressing newsmen during a press conference in Abuja, the grieving mother narrated how a condom and sperm was found in her daughter.

According to her, she had rushed her daughter to the hospital shortly after picking her up from the school, following the complaints of pain and weakness.

Mrs. Akpagher also said the doctor while trying to administer drips on her decided to insert a urinary catheter because of her weakness but surpris ingly found sperm discharge and a condom left in her private part after a medical test.

The mother said, “All this story started on Friday, June 18, 2021, when my daughter sent a message and later called that we should come and pick her for medical at tention that she had an eye infection.

“I told the school matron that I would come and pick her and she said if I picked her she would be kept in isolation for seven days on return. She said there was an alternative for me – paying and the school bringing her to the clinic for treatment and take her back. That was the first time I would hear that because I had been taking her out, even for medi cal checkup. I agreed to that and they brought her to me at Nisa Premier Hospital and they attended to her.

“She was brought in the company of a nurse and teacher and when it was time to go back with them she asked me, ‘Mummy, are you still leaving me to go back with these people?’ I told her not to worry but to go and get her things together.

“On getting to school, my daughter called again through the school phone that I should come and pick her and I told her that I had come but the school did not allow me to come inside but when she was crying I got angry.”

It was at this point the mother put a phone call to the principal but she did not pick, it was learnt through the principal later sent a text message that her daughter should be released to her.

She explained that on getting to the school the security asked her to wait, that he would like to talk to the principal on the phone while keeping her at the gate for more than an hour. But the principal later came out with her daughter.

Shocked by the strange discovery, Mrs, Akpagher alleged that her daughter was raped in school, after which a condom was left in her, resulting in sepsis infection that eventually resulted in her death.

However, Premier Academy authorities denied such claims, saying Karen only complained of red-eye condition for which she was treated at the hospital before she was picked up from the school by her mother.

The school denied any wrongdoing in respect of the case, saying they were not aware of that the student was a victim of sexual molestation. They insisted that if truly the girl had been sexually molested, it did not happen on the school premises.

 Human rights community steps in

 Meanwhile, the human rights community, including the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has stepped into the fray.

A coalition of gender-based violence activists led by Lemmy Ughegbe has been leading a campaign to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to justice.

After submitting a petition by the coalition to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu, in Abuja, Ughegbe vowed to be unrelenting until justice is done.

While receiving the petition on July 15, Ojukwu said the commission would study the content of the petition and respond accordingly.

“I wish to thank the coalition for not taking laws into its hands and I assure you that the commission would investigate the content of the petition lodged by the coalition. We have seen and read about this case on social media. But your petition has come in and you have itemised the concerns. We shall look into it thoroughly,” Ojukwu reportedly said.

“You have done the right thing by not taking laws into your hands. We shall investigate your petition with a view to deciding whether or not to accede to the prayers contained therein.

“The commission takes matters like this very seriously and we must all continue to seek safe spaces for children, as they go out in search of education in our schools.”

Ughegbe, who is the leader of the coalition, had said: “The coalition was determined to ensure that Keren-Happuch did not become another statistics in the data of victims of child sexual abuse, whose death remained unaccounted for and the paedophile left to walk the streets free.

“We have compelling testimonies of ex-students, narrating how they were sexually abused at Premier Academy, Lugbe, Abuja.”

Ughegbe said the coalition had evidence that the Premier Academy management treated cases of sexual abuse with kid gloves, a claim the school authorities controverted.

“It is our considered view that if the school management had put in place a – zero tolerance for any form of sexual abuse, the tide would have been stemmed and Karen-Happuch Aondodoo Akpagher would not have died in this gory way,” Ughegbe noted.

Ughegbe also assured the NHRC that his group would “aid your investigation by making available to the commission some of the documents and audio tapes in its custody to help uncover the malfeasance in the school, which has gone unreported now”.

However, as the NHRC begins investigation into the circumstances that surrounded the untimely death of Karen-Happuch Akpagher, Nigerians wait in hope that it would be able to unearth the truth about the sad episode so that the innocent schoolgirl’s spirit would rest in peace at last.