Father Christmas arrested …For defiling 5-yr-old schoolgirl

Santa Claus or Father Christmas, as he is often called in this clime, is known for rewarding good conducts. Now, what happens when this rewarder of virtues becomes the wrongdoer?
That is exactly what played out recently at a Christmas party or­ganized by a nursery and primary school in the Ojodu-Abiodun area of Ogun State. During such parties, children are usually taken to the Father Christmas one after the other to receive gifts from him.
The joyful event turned awry after a five-year-old pupil from the school complained that the Father Christmas dipped a finger in her vagina and blood came out when she went in for her gift.
The matter was reportedly incidented at a police station in the area following which the said Father Christmas was arrested penultimate Friday and later released on bail. He was thereafter mandated to report to the station last Monday.
When Sunday Sun visited the police station where the matter was reportedly handled, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) denied knowledge of the case, saying that no such matter was brought before him.
However, investigations showed that the matter was actually reported at that station. A petty trader around the police station told Sunday Sun that the matter did not involve a Father Christmas, but a Barney brought to the party by the party organizers hired by the school for the event.
She explained that it was even the owner of the business that was arrested and not the culprit as he could not be traced after the incident. She said that she knew about the matter when she saw a pregnant woman by her shop (who she claimed was the wife of the man arrested) crying while the man was detained at the police station.
Although the woman argued that the man on the run was innocent of the charge, she could not explain why the said offender disappeared following the report.
It was her view that the par­ents of the girl were not telling the whole truth, as they were alleged to have taken the child to a hospital as far as Ogba, in Lagos, for test that would ascer­tain the truth of the matter.
According to her, they claimed that it was their family hospi­tal. She believed that the police were in the best position to decide where the test should have been done.
“I know the man that was ar­rested. He runs a party organizing outfit, which the school hired. When people rent the Barney costume, anybody can then wear it. When someone rented it in my compound, it was even my son that wore it. Anybody can wear it. The person who wore the costume during the party allegedly dipped his finger in the girl’s vagina, and then ran away. They have not seen him till now,” she explained.
Meanwhile, another respon­dent, a woman who lives next door to the school confirmed the story to Sunday Sun, saying it was actually a man in Father Christmas costume that com­mitted the offence. The school, a two-storey building, is adjacent to her house.
She, however, explained that the parties had settled matter. “They were having the party up­stairs when the thing happened; they have a hall where they hold parties upstairs. But they have settled it.”
She even assured the reporter who she believed was an intend­ing patron, that the school was a very good one. “It is just that one (referring to the incident). I am a teacher myself, and I can tell you that the school is very good.”