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- Her name is Rosemary Akaniyene. She is 22 years old. She has been in prison for over one year for a crime she did not commit. Her father died trying to save her. Now, her family is crying for help.
It is tears, sorrow, and cries for help in the family of young Rosemary Akaniyene, a 22-year-old girl who has been locked up at Ikot Akpanabia Prison in Akwa Ibom State for more than one year over a case she insists she knows nothing about. Read Our Last Post: Missing Since 2018: Family Learns Daughter Drowned at Sea on Her Way to Libya in 2020
The painful story started early last year at Itak Junction, where Rosemary was working in her small shop. A seven-year-old boy was kept in her care by another person. The little child later told Rosemary that he was hungry. Like a caring sister, she quickly stepped out to buy food for him.
By the time she returned, the boy was no longer there. She thought he had either gone home or gone out to play with other children. But later that night, the boy’s mother came to pick him, and Rosemary explained what happened. Unknown to her, that little incident was about to change her life completely.
The next morning, the boy’s mother went straight to the police station and filed a report against Rosemary, accusing her of kidnapping her son. That same day, police officers arrested Rosemary. Since January last year, she has remained behind bars.
Rosemary’s father could not bear the pain of seeing his young daughter in prison. He sold all that he had. From his farmland to his personal belongings, everything went in the fight to prove his daughter’s innocence.
When money was not enough, he started borrowing. The debts grew bigger and bigger. Family members and friends watched as he became weak and broken. In the middle of the struggle, his body could no longer carry the pain. He collapsed and died, leaving behind his wife, children, and debts that remain unpaid.
The saddest part is that Rosemary does not even know her father is dead. The family has been hiding the truth from her. They told her that her father travelled, because they fear the shock might break her completely in prison.
Speaking with tears, Rosemary’s elder brother shared the heartbreaking experience.
“Our sister has been in prison for one year now. It is only our father that used to visit her, but since he died, she does not know. We told her he travelled. I am the one sending money for our mother’s food and also sending small money to Rosemary in prison.
I am also paying the debts that killed our father. Sir, I am tired. People keep calling me to ask how my mother is surviving, and I do not even know what to answer. I have not seen my mother for years. I did not even see my father before he died because of lack of money for transport.”
Rosemary is only 22 years old. Her life has been put on hold in the four walls of a prison cell. Every day she wakes up not knowing when she will regain her freedom. She is innocent, yet she suffers for a crime she never committed.
The family’s greatest fear now is that if something is not done quickly, Rosemary’s future will be completely destroyed.
