A medical student’s black Thursday; Face to face with the devil and the deep blue sea
Coming face to face with the devil can be harrowing and so is facing the deep blue sea in matters of life and death. For many of us, the feeling in such moments would probably be to wish that the earth would open and swallow us up. Last Thursday, one young lady faced the devil of a robber who took her valuables and then attempted to rape her at knife point.
Advertisement
And so confronted with the option of rape and perhaps the threat of being stabbed to death if she resisted, the final-year female student of the University of Ghana Medical School fled from the knife of a daring 22-year-old heavily built welder who walked in, not in his soiled welder’s clothes, looking decent in a printed rugby T-shirt.
Having taken her valuables, the alleged rapist then commanded her to undress and lie down. According to a Daily Graphic report, it was at this point that she rushed out screaming for help and then jumped.
Displayed courage
The courage of the student in the face of grave danger to her life is that she did not succumb to the threat. She probably decided that it was not wise to put up a fight with such a man. She was swift while on her feet to flee from danger instead.
Perhaps thinking that the stranger who entered her room would chase after her, she took what she thought may have been the swiftest exit from danger and that was to jump one floor down rather than run down the stairs to safety.
Her calculated risk resulted in serious injuries. But her action “convicted” the alleged rapist who must have got confused, still waiting in the room, until some male colleagues of the injured lady went in and arrested him and handed him over to the police.
Deadly impunities
The fact is many, young and old, are faced with such deadly impunities on a daily basis. What happened to the final year medical student is happening to many more others, who are succumbing in the quiet. Nobody is safe walking on the streets, in the malls, at home and sometimes even at workplaces.
Fortunately, but maybe unfortunately, we live in a world of rights. And so painfully, such miscreants in the society, even when caught red-handed, are given some respite of judicial hearing and access to a lawyer to defend them. That is why we need to do everything to be security conscious all the time and not give such people a foothold to perpetrate their acts.
Unfortunately, as a people, security is generally not something we value so much. Gone are our parents and grandparents’ era when walls were short enough for people to peep through one another’s house.
Gone are those days when entrance doors were left ajar and people drove with windows rolled down and doors unlocked.
Security at public places
Public offices and institutions today are left free for anyone to walk in. Our ministries, for example, are exposed to hawkers and all manner of persons to walk through. Public offices are entered without necessarily going through a reception or security gate.
The same applies to some of our public hospitals and schools. We do not build or plan with security in mind and that is a price we will continue to pay in a world where criminals are always finding loopholes to exploit.
The nasty incident at the medical students’ hostel last week is a clear signal that security at the hostel and indeed in many of the student hostels that have sprung up all over the country need to be beefed up.
This female medical student could have easily lost her life with the least resistance to the alleged rapist who probably had enough time to stalk her and entered her room with confidence because he was taking advantage of lax security.
With the seriousness of such a crime and danger to human life, the authorities at the Medical School need to have the hostels walled and security at the entrance beefed up with electronic access system. Such a system would allow only authorised users access into the building at any given time.
One can only sympathise with the victim and wish her well on her hospital bed. She showed bravery at a time when many of us would have succumbed. Unfortunately, things did not turn out well and she may have to go through months of recovery.
The consolation is that the offender is in the grip of the police, thanks to her brave male colleagues. The regrettable incident is a wake-up call to the authorities to beef up security where it is lax.
vickywirekoandoh
@yahoo.com