From CHIDI NNADI, Enugu
A young Nigerian mother, Martha Happy, has narrated how she narrowly escaped death in the hands of a 70-year-old Spaniard who allegedly raped and impregnated her in Nigeria at the age of 15, and later attempted to kill her in Spain.
Happy's sad story was told barely three weeks after Nigeria's Ambassador to Spain, Mrs Bianca Ojukwu, raised the alarm that many Nigerians, particularly women, die in the desert in their desperation to cross over to Spain.
The young woman from Edo State, who returned to Nigeria in April this year, told Sunday Sun that but for sheer luck, she would have been strangled to death by the elderly Spanish father of her son in far away Spain, like a fellow Nigerian, 29-year-old Miss Ada Maureen Otuya, allegedly killed by her martial artist lover in that country.
How we met
Narrating her harrowing experience, Happy said she had met the Spaniard (names withheld), who worked for the Liberian Airways as an engineer, in 2009, while he lodged in Topsy Hotel, located near her school, St Paul's, Ketu in Lagos.
She said that the Spaniard usually greeted her on her way to school, and on one of such days, he sent her to buy sachet water for him.
As Happy who was in JSS3 at the time, went for the water, the man returned to his hotel room and when she returned and made to drop the water with the hotel's gatemen, they told her to take it to his room. The gatemen had reasoned that they would not risk being blamed if the white man came to any hurt after drinking the water.
Old man turns rapist
Happy who said she did not suspect anything, accepted to take the water to the Spaniard's room and he raped her.
"He saw me each time I passed the hotel to school and he would greet me because my school was opposite the hotel. I thought he was a responsible man and old enough to be my grandfather at about 70 years. I felt he had no strength to go out to get the water; so I helped him. I did not know that he would rape me. When he held me, I shouted but he had locked the doors and nobody heard me shouting," she said.
Happy told Sunday Sun that her parents were not aware of what happened to her because she lived with her sisters in Lagos.
She recalled that the Spaniard fled to Spain when she told him that she was pregnant, but returned after three months and relocated her to a hotel where she stayed for one month before he rented a room-and-parlour apartment for her.
She said the man took care of her until she gave birth to a baby boy on April 25, 2010.
Journey to Spain
Thereafter, he started processing travel papers for her and their baby, Anthonio, but the Spanish Embassy allegedly appeared reluctant to issue her travel documents.
"He wanted to take me and my baby to Spain. He got all the papers for my son, but mine was difficult. The Embassy denied me three times. They demanded to see my parents because I was too young then. But I obtained my international passport in Abeokuta and got three months visa in February this year. So, on February 18, I travelled with him and our son Anthonio," she said.
Terrible times abroad
Happy stated that shortly before they boarded the plane to Spain, the man's attitude towards her changed and things got worse for her when they arrived in Spain.
"When we got to Spain, he would take the baby out alone and at a time, I followed him anywhere he took the baby and he did not like that. He later blocked my phone and I could not talk to anybody, including my father," she said, adding that when she asked him why he blocked her line, he threatened to kill her with a knife.
Happy told Sunday Sun that the man abused and beat her each time she wanted to return to Nigeria until a lady who usually dropped newspapers in their house noticed what was happening and called in the police who arrested and charged him to court in March.
Consequently, she was taken to a home for abused women in that country where people advised her to go to the Nigerian Embassy, that helped to bring her back home in April.
Alleged killing of a Nigerian
The young mother also told the story of a fellow Nigerian she identified as Ada Maureen Otuya, who was allegedly killed recently in Spain, by her Spanish lover.
It was reliably gathered that Miss Otuya, who hailed from Agbor in Delta State, arrived in Spain from Morocco in September 2009, and was undocumented, thereby living in the country illegally.
The source also said that she was picked up by a Spanish martial artist, who took her to his gymnasium in Bilbao, Spain, where he allegedly tried to strangle her but for the timely intervention of neighbours who alerted the police.
The Spanish police were said to have taken her to hospital where she died on June 5, prompting the Nigerian community in Spain to stage series of demonstrations in Bilbao.
The suspect was arrested, charged to court and remanded in prison custody.
The Nigerian Embassy in Spain was said to have briefed a lawyer to handle the matter because the deceased had no relations in Spain.
Checks also revealed that when contacted by the Embassy, her family members in Nigeria expressed desire to have her remains brought back home.
Thanking the Nigerian Embassy in Spain for accepting her and bringing her back home, Happy advised other Nigerian girls still in Spain that, "no matter the situation in Nigeria", they should come back home.
She added: "There are lots of better things they can do at home here than prostitution. They should have hope because prostitution is not a good way of life. There are so many things one can do here to earn a decent living."
Happy was unhappy that she hurt her parents because of what happened to her, but added, "I am happy to be back."
Father's demand for son
About her Spanish husband, she said: "My husband sent a message that I should bring Anthonio back; that he was coming to take the child, but I told him that he would never see Anthonio again."
She appealed to public-spirited individuals and the government for financial assistance to enable her start a business and cater for herself and her son.
When contacted on phone, Ambassador Ojukwu said that many cases similar to what befell the late Ada and Happy confront her mission daily, adding that diplomatic reasons had placed big hurdles in the way to handle such cases.
Ambassador Ojukwu reiterated her advice to young girls who are not professionals and have not completed their education, to think twice before going abroad to work, pointing out that most of them end up as sex workers.
She said that her mission would always assist Nigerian girls and others in Spain who experience difficulty in returning home.
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