NEWS INTERNATIONAL

Nigerian teenager stabbed, burnt to death in Russia
By JOB OSAZUWA

Tears flowed  uncontrollably when the Samson family received the news that their  17-year-old daughter, Forester Samson was stabbed to death in far away Moscow, the capital  of Russia.
Sunday Sun gathered that she was murdered  by yet-to-be-identified Russian gangsters. According to a family source, the perpetrators 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.”

SUN