52-year-old retired civil servant, Paul Akpederi, is cooling his heels in a Lagos police cell after been accused of having s*xual intercourse with his 15 year-old daughter.

The Delta State indigene, who lives on Adegbite Street, Ori-Okuta, in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, was alleged to have defiled his 15-year-old daughter, Rose, for over three years.

It was learnt that Paul started sexually abusing Rose when she was in Junior Secondary School Three.

When the secret got to the knowledge of a teacher, Paul allegedly changed her school.

The suspect was said to have continued the abuse until she got to Senior Secondary School Two in her new school.

Rose’s former teacher was said to have run into her sometime in October 2017 and told a friend about Rose’s plight, who then alerted the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender through the agency’s social media platform.

Our correspondent learnt that officials of the agency reported the case to the police at the Owutu division, who then arrested the suspect and rescued the 15-year-old.

A social worker, who was part of the rescue, told our correspondent that Paul started sleeping with his only daughter after separating from her mother.

He said, “The man had been defiling his daughter since the wife left him. She is their only daughter and when the marriage broke down, he took custody of her. That was when the problem started.

“He started sleeping with her when she was barely 12 years old. She was in JSS 3 then. They were about to start their final exams in the junior school when her colleagues found her crying uncontrollably.

When they could not console her, they called the attention of one of their teachers, who then took her to a room.

“She told the teacher what she had been going through and the teacher informed Rose’s pastor at a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who counselled her.

Her father was invited and that was the end of the case.

“The man, who was desperate to cover up the crime, changed her school and she lost contact with the teacher.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that the defilement continued until Rose got to SSS 2 in her new school.

It was learnt that the teacher in her former school ran into her one day and they had a brief discussion about her (Rose) welfare.

The teacher, who suspected the abuse was still continuing, reportedly informed a friend, who wrote about Rose’s ordeal on OPD’s Facebook page on October 9.

A member of the OPD team that visited the victim’s school said she initially denied the defilement and attempted to exonerate her father.

He said, “She kept lying and when we didn’t get a breakthrough, we got in touch with the mandatory reporter (teacher) who then assisted us in trailing her to her parent’s house. The police arrested the man and rescued the girl.