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A Warri-based hotelier and proprietor of William 69 Hotel, Chief William Ochuko has called on Delta State Government and State Commissioner of Police, Ari Mohammed to investigate thoroughly an alleged abduction and rape of a 13-year-old-girl, Sharon Taiwo.

Chief William made the appeal in a statement yesterday in reaction to claims by the victim’s mother, Mrs. Loveth Taiwo that her daughter was abducted in Warri and taken to Ghana where she was violently raped before being brought home.

Mrs. Taiwo gave the narration recently at the 2021 edition of 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) against women and girls organized by the Delta State Government in collaboration with the 05 Initiative held in Asaba.

William said his call for thorough investigations became necessary because his hotel was mentioned by Mrs. Taiwo, the victim’s mother, during her narration at the event that was attended by government officials and CSOs.

He said preliminary investigations by the management of his hotel revealed that the said Sharon Taiwo is 17 years and was a sex worker that patronise William 69 hotel regularly along with her friends in same trade.

The hotelier said investigations revealed that Sharon was invited by her ex-boyfriend based in Togo and she in turn recruited her friends, Elizabeth, Gift, Koburo and Onuje (Surnames withheld) for business as sex workers.

“Sharon and her lover friend came together to lodge at William 69 Hotel, thereafter Sharon invited her friends and introduced them to the man from Lagos and they concluded their plans to travel to Togo”, he explained.

William disclosed that investigations also revealed that Sharon’s parents threw her out of the house which probably forced the victim to take her destiny in her own hands noting that she was already known in Warri metropolis as a sex worker.
He debunked the insinuation that the victim was 13 years old as painted by her mother to draw emotions wondering how a girl of that age will be in a senior secondary school class, adding “Sharon is 17 years as revealed by her friends. A 13-year-old girl cannot be in senior secondary school as claimed by her mother just to dent the image of others”.

The hotelier urged the Delta State Government and the state Police Commissioner to investigate the claim by Sharon’s mother and if found untrue be charged for providing false information to discredit people.