Ochanya: One Rape Too Many

 

A 13-year old girl lies six feet under the ground. Dead. Lifeless. Her dreams cut short, her breath snuffed out at a time when she should have no business contemplating the possibility of being non-existent. If she died of some terminal illness or had been a victim of an accident, maybe her death would have been easier to bear…maybe. But none of that is the case. The circumstances surrounding the death of Ochanya Ogbaje is a prospect every female prays against. Many would choose the option of being felled by the bullets of night marauders rather than the victim of serial rape. That frightening possibility of bodily violation that lurks in the corners of every woman’s heart became Ochanya’s reality.