Rape and other acts of violence against females continue to take horrifying dimensions despite the efforts of the Federal Government to check the menace. Abdullahi olesin, Kwara, brings Leadership Weekend the sad story of a teenage victim seeking justice.

Mariam, a 14-year-old student of Naurairu-deen Junior Secondary School, Offa in Kwara State, who was raped and subsequently set ablaze by her attacker in June, 2014 has finally left hospital.

Though Mariam is back to school after about 10 months on the sick bed, her physique has been terribly altered by the severe injuries inflicted on her by her merciless attacker who poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze after raping her rape

The scars of the burns she suffered during the attack are still very visible all over her body. Mariam's once beautiful body remains disfigured from her face and arms to the navel. Her left arm is permanently stiffened and immobilised.

On the fateful day, Mariam was said to be returning home from a filling station where she had gone to buy kerosene for her mother when a young man accosted her, dragged her to an uncompleted building where she was raped and subsequently set ablaze and left to die.

It was gathered that the man who attacked Mariam fled the scene into thin air. She was however lucky to be rescued by members of a vigilante group operating in the area.

During an encounter with Mariam, she wept uncontrollably and all she could struggle to utter was, "I want the person who did this to me to be punished." In a nut shell, Mariam is demanding for justice. She wants the perpetrator of the dastardly act to be apprehended and made to face the wrath of the law.

One of the teachers at Mariam's school who craved anonymity, described her as a brilliant, diligent and disciplined student.

The teacher who said that the school's management was doing everything humanly possible to assist Mariam to cover lost ground in her academic pursuit, appealed to authorities concerned to come to her aid through reconstructive surgery to improve her battered body.

Also, Mariam's father, Yinusa Adebisi, who is a poor taxi driver appealed to Offa local government authority and the state government to come to the aid of his daughter.

He expressed the optimism that his daughter could regain her looks and live a more productive life if there is money for her to undergo more surgical operations.

According to him, his family has spent over N500,000 since June 2014 when Mariam was admitted at three different hospitals, noting that even that amount were contributions.

Even this, he said they got from contributions from churches, mosques and well wishers.

"We still have an outstanding balance of N350,000 to pay the management of Temitope Hospital in Ilorin" one of the hospitals where she received treatment, he said sobbing.

The victim's father equally demanded justice for his daughter. "We don't have money to contract a lawyer but we want justice to be done in this matter. The man who attacked and destroyed the life of our daughter is still walking the streets a free man; we shall go to court to seek redress if we have the means. But as you can see, we are poor and that's why we are helpless," he lamented.