An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced a man, Rasheed Wasiu, to life imprisonment for having sexual intercourse with his neighbourโs eleven-year-old daughter.
Justice Rahman Oshodi, in his judgment, held that Wasiu defiled the survivor in a beastly manner.
Oshodi said that the offence of defilement was grave and attracted a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
According to him, the convict lied in his evidence before the court.
He said notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence against the convict, he continued to deny the offence.
The judge said: โThe evidence shows that you had sexual intercourse with an eleven-year-old girl and even at sentencing, you showed no remorse.
โShe was your neighbourโs daughter and she was to your knowledge, a child but you grabbed her in the toilet, pushed her to the wall and had sexual intercourse with her in a beastly manner.
โThis is unacceptable and you must be ashamed and punished according to the mandatory sentence.
โTherefore, the sentence I pass upon you is one of life imprisonment.โ
Oshodi also said the convictโs name be registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.
The judge further said there was consistent evidence that the survivor, Prosecution Witness Three (PW3), was 11 years old as of March 2018, when the events that led to this prosecution occurred.
He held that the prosecution has established beyond reasonable doubt that the survivor was a child as of March 2018.
The judge said: โIt is undisputed that the prosecutrix (PW3) and the defendant lived in the same house in Apapa, Lagos.
โThe crime scene is the general toilet in the house, which is in the backyard and the IPO gave a satisfactory description of it.
โHe stated that the bathroom was beside the toilet and they were both dark because there was no lighting in the backyard.
โThe survivor explained that she went to the toilet because she was pressed when the defendant forcefully had sex with her.โ
The State Counsel, led by Mr Babajide Boye, called four witnesses to establish its case against the convict, while the defence called three witnesses in a bid to deny the allegation.
The prosecution had tendered three documents as exhibits, namely; the extra-judicial statement of the survivor who testified as Prosecution Witness Three (PW3), the extra-judicial statement of the survivorโs father, who testified as Prosecution Witness Four (PW4), and the defendantโs extra-judicial statement who had testified as Defence Witness One (DW1).
According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
