A Nigerian Catholic priest, Fr. Evaristus Bassey, has shared a disturbing account of an elderly man who reportedly confessed to sexually abusing his two granddaughters more than a decade earlier.
The priest shared the account on X, describing the emotional devastation experienced by the man’s only daughter after he made the confession.
According to Bassey, the woman had abandoned her job and spent more than a year caring for her elderly father, who was reportedly seriously ill and believed he was approaching the end of his life.
The priest said that, believing he might soon die, the elderly man called his daughter and asked her for forgiveness.
It was during the conversation, according to the account, that the man allegedly confessed that he had sexually abused his two granddaughters more than 10 years earlier, when the girls were reportedly about 10 and eight years old.
The revelation reportedly left the woman devastated, particularly because she had devoted herself to caring for her father without knowing what he had allegedly done to her children.
Bassey said the woman was overwhelmed by anger, disappointment and distress and began thinking about different forms of revenge.
“She wished he was even strong enough to be handed over to the police! Only the fear of God stopped her,” the priest wrote.
The woman was reportedly particularly disturbed by the fact that the alleged perpetrator was the children’s grandfather.
“How can a granddad do that to his grandkids!” she was quoted as lamenting.
According to the priest, the woman’s distress deepened when she remembered that her elder daughter had attempted to say something about the abuse years earlier.
However, the mother reportedly struggled at the time to believe that such an act could have happened and therefore did not pay sufficient attention to what her daughter was trying to communicate.
The revelation allegedly left her blaming herself for not recognising the warning signs earlier.
Bassey said the woman became inconsolable as she reflected on what her daughter may have experienced and her own inability to understand the situation at the time.
Concluding the account, the priest reflected on the lasting psychological impact of abuse and trauma.
“Physical pain might be bound to a period but the pain of the mind and heart is timeless,” he wrote.
The account has drawn attention to the devastating and long-lasting effects of child sexual abuse, as well as the importance of taking disclosures or warning signs from children seriously.
