Teenage Girl Sentenced To Prison For Her Friend's Death

One young teenage girl in Lagos was sentenced to ten (10) years imprisonment, five months after her mother's death. What did she do? Why on Earth should a bereaved teenager be jailed almost immediately after her mothers burial? I knew this girl very because we lived in the same neighborhood many years ago. Her father was a German-trained mechanical engineer who sacrificed his skill and career on the altar of drunkenness. After her mother's death, the onus of caring for her younger siblings fell on her weak frames. This gir in question had a friend who was pregnant for one boy. The boy who was allegedly responsible for the pregnancy denied that he had nothing to do with the girl's pathenity Due to the prolonged argument on the true paternity of the child, the pregnant girl went to the hospital to terminate the pregnancy. For reasons that I do not know, the bereaved girl who lost her mother five months before her friend's conception, accepted to accompany her pregnant friend to the hospital where the abortion was slated to take place. Unexpectedly, the young pregnant teenager died in the course of the abortion. When this happened, hell was let loose! The parents of the late girl who had never uttered any word big or small, bad or good, about the matter sprang up into a full-swing action. They arrested both the boy wbo was allegedly responsible for the pregnancy and the girlfriend who accompanied the deceased girl to the hospital. They took both of them to court and charged them for the murder of their daughter. Like a child's play, both of them paid very dearly for the girl's death. The parents of the deceased girl did not behave for once as if they had ever seen or known their daughter's friend whereas both of them used to move together. Everybody in the neigh ourhood could attest to the fact both girls were intimate friends. But, because death was involved, the parents of the deceased did not show any mercy to their daughter's friend. She was sentenced to years (10) imprisonment after much pleading. Thus, the girl who was supposed to take care of her younger siblings after her mother's death, went to prison five months after her mother's death. To me, I think the lesson is that no matter how deeply you love someone, do not follow him/ her to do wrong thing. Allow your close friends to take some major decisions about their lives alone. There was a time I went out for hospital evangelism in Lagos. I saw a girl of 15 years old lying critically ill in one ward. The nurse did not allow me to talk to her, but I insisted on doing so. So, I was given access to her. I greeted her, and asked her what she was suffering from. She said to me,"I did an abortion." From what I saw, she did surgery to terminate that pregnancy. Candidly speaking, I respected her honesty in telling me the truth not minding that she saw me for the first time. In the course of our discussion, I discovered that she came all the way from Cotonou in Benin Republic to Lagos to do the abortion. I asked her why she did not do it in her own country at least to reduce cost. She said that she does not want any human being, including her biological parents, to know about it. It means therefor e,that a young girl can get pregnant and abort it successfully without anybody in her family knowing about it! It means also that that girl living in the same house with you might have done one or two abortions right in your own house without your knowledge. Your daughters in the colleges, universities and other institutions of higher learning should be sent this message so that they might be able to escape from unwanted pregnancies and abortions and deaths. Create time to talk to the children in your house about the dangers of premarital sexual affairs. Emphasize on the necessity of desisting from boyfriends and whatever benefits or advantages it may bring. Teach them everything about sex before sex kills them in future. To be forewarned is to be forearmed! Kindly share this message with your friends and loved ones. You may save someone's life by disseminating this message to as many friends and loved ones as possible.