The police in Edo State have arrested a 28-year-old truck conductor, Abdurazak Ibrahim, for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl in Uromi in Esan South East LGA on September 13.

Parading the suspect before newsmen, the spokesperson of the state police command, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the father of the victim reported the case to the police.

He said the suspect called the victim while she was hawking groundnuts on Ivue-Irrua Road under the pretence of wanting to buy some.

“The suspect attacked and pushed her inside a vehicle and forcefully had sex with her. The police stormed the scene and arrested the suspect.”Nwabuzor said

Speaking to newsmen, the suspect who hails from Oyo State denied the allegation, saying he was falsely accused.

“We were travelling on Agbor Road to Okpella and got stuck in Uromi due to the bad road. We were there for days. On this day, we called the girl who was hawking and I bought N100 groundnuts from her. My colleague said the girl was calm and that I should marry her. I jokingly said that while coming back I would seek her parents’ hand in marriage, and she left.

But three hours later, I was sleeping inside the vehicle when the girl came to me and asked me if I was serious about the marriage I talked about. We were inside the vehicle when one boy came and accused me of raping her.

I told him that nothing of such happened, and the girl also said that I didn’t rape her, and they all left. After a while, some boys came and accused me of raping the girl and they took me to the station. I didn’t rape her.” he said