received the news that their 17-year-old daughter,
Forester Samson was stabbed to death in far away
Moscow, the capital of Russia.
According to how a family source narrated the story to
Sun News , the killers went further to lock her body in a
room and set it ablaze. Though, the police took her to
the hospital, it was rather futile. The source revealed
that Forester was sponsored abroad by one Mercy who is
suspected to be trafficking Nigerian girls on the promise
that she would assist them with decent jobs in Russia.
The teenager without hesitation, but with the approval of
her mother jumped at the offer with high hopes.
According to the deceased's elder sister, Sonia Samson,
they got a call from Mercy, on Tuesday March 4, 2014
that Forester had died in an inferno. She added that the
family was later told that Forester was stabbed before
being set ablaze. Sonia said,
"Her madam is the one that called us on Tuesday and
told us she was locked in a room and set ablaze by some
unknown Russians. She told us that she was rushed to
the hospital, that they were treating her.
"Later that day, she also told us that she was initially
stabbed before she was burnt. Not too long after, she
told us that she was dead. The madam said she was not
the only victim in the attack. She said there were five
other Nigerians, that another one died four or five days
after the attack.
"My sister died mysteriously, just as another sister of
mine was also killed by armed robbers. Sincerely, I am
confused because I don't know why all this is happening
to us. Particularly for me, it is so painful that I don't
really know what to say or do. This is a difficult time for
the family and I believe we need to be more prayerful
more than ever before."
The late Forester, who would have been celebrating her
18th birthday on March 30 hails from Igbekhue in
Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. She
completed her secondary education in 2013.
Forester's father, Friday Osazuwa Samson was killed four
years ago in Benin by suspected armed robbers. He was
shot in broad daylight in front of his shop at Upper
Sakponba. Until Friday's death, he was a successful
businessman, a distributor with Sona and Bendel
breweries.
Siblings and other relatives of the late Forester's father
are worried and pained by circumstances surrounding
how Forester was lured into traveling to Russia, which
they described as shady. Recognizing the fact that she
did not travel to Russia for further education, even as
they were not also informed of such plans, they are
calling on concerned authorities to wade into the matter.
They are accusing Mercy of human trafficking and calling
on National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in
Persons (NAPTIP) to investigate the activities of this said
Mercy. They also want the Nigerian Embassy in Russia to
as a matter of urgency unravel the mystery surrounding
the death of their daughter. The dastardly act took place
on March 3, 2014.
Since the news broke, the entire family has been thrown
into mourning. Sonia, who still finds it difficult to believe
that her sister was gone, lamented that Forester's death
was too painful for her to easily accept. To her, she
would have better been dreaming and be glad that the
story was not true.
Meanwhile, Forester's uncle, Mr Saturday Samson
Osazuwa accused Forester's mother of conniving with
the said madam (Mercy) to deceive and persuade the
teenager to travel abroad. He queried why Forester's
mother, Elizabeth, decided to hide his niece's
whereabouts from him.
Saturday, who now acts as a father figure to the children
since their father's death, said the mother refused to
disclose where Forester was, even as he insisted on
seeing her. Said he:
"The mother was aware that Forester had traveled
abroad. Not just that, I believe she was part of the
arrangement that her 17-year-old daughter should travel
abroad. It is really unfortunate and wicked of her to have
taken that decision.
"If my brother, her husband was alive, he would never
allow such a thing for any of his children. What was
Forester looking for in Russia? Was it to go there and
school? Certainly not. Now, she has caused the entire
family pain and sorrow.
The girl was beautiful and intelligent. I still cannot
understand what she was sent to Russia to do at her
tender age.
"For more than five months, her mother was dribbling
me whenever I wanted to see Forester. I sent for her to
come and see me on a number of occasions but they
kept telling me that she was residing with her mother's
relatives in Benin here only for me to receive a call from
them that she was dead in a fire accident in Russia.
This is the girl that they kept telling me was in Benin.
Until her death, the mother refused to tell anybody in our
family. If she thought that the children belonged to her
alone, that is where she's mistaken."
Also, an uncle of late Forester's father, Mr Evabayekha
Christopher, described Forester's mother as callous. He
wondered why any reasonable mother would send her
own daughter abroad for monetary reasons. His words:
"What exactly will Forester be doing abroad when she
was supposed to be studying at the University of Benin or
any other higher institution of learning in Nigeria? What
she did is unacceptable to every member of our family."
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.
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