Nigerian girl stabbed and burnt to death in Russia

Tears flowed uncontrollably when the Samson
family received news that their 17-year-old
daughter, Forester Samson had been stabbed
to death in far away Moscow, the capital  of
Russia.
According to a family source, 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
had jumped at the offer with high hopes. Only
for them to get a call from Mercy, on Tuesday
March 4, 2014 that Forester had died in an
inferno. That Forester was stabbed before
being set ablaze. The deceased’s elder sister,
Sonia Samson told TheSunNews :
“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.
He said:
“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.”