A High Court sitting in the Ikeja area of Lagos State has sentenced a man, Richard Saviour, to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting his wife’s niece and infecting her with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

The victim (name withheld) was aged 14.

Delivering judgement on the case on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, the presiding judge, Justice Oyindamola Ogala, held that the evidence provided by all the prosecution witnesses were corroborated and considered as the truth.

Justice Ogala said the evidence of the victim were corroborated by the Investigating Police Officer and social worker from the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Welfare.

The judge said: “The testimony before the court clearly depicts the evil perpetrated on this young girl and how she was abused both mentally and physically by the defendant and his wife for years.

“Revealing how she indeed cried out for help and was betrayed by those who were supposed to help and support her.

Man bags life imprisonment for sexually assaulting 3 children

“It is imperative to state at this juncture that the actions of the principal of PW2’s school and the social worker (PW3) are commendable as same eventually brought some succour and relief to PW2, who unfortunately has been permanently scared.

“Having carefully considered the entirety of facts before the court, it finds that in this instance, the prosecution has satisfactorily proved the one count information the defendant stands faced with.”

Justice Ogala added the mien of the defendant was desperate to distance himself from the allegation by denying the offences.

The judge said when the police took the victim to the hospital, she was tested and found to be HIV positive.

According to the judge, the Mirabel Centre record of PW2’s genital findings are that her hymen was absent with slight whitish vaginal discharge and concluded that the finding is consistent with repeated vaginal penetration which lends credence to the facts stated by PW2.

She stated that the girl was later transferred to Mary’s Home Orphanage and looked after with the help of Positive Action for Treatment Access, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

Justice Ogala, therefore, convicted the defendant on the charge of defilement by unlawful sexual assault and sentenced him to life imprisonment in the correctional centre.

In a related development, an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, on Tuesday, sentenced a 45-year-old man, Paul Ndedigwe, to double life imprisonment for defiling his neighbour’s two children, aged six and seven.

Justice Abiola Soladoye, in her judgement, held that prosecution proved two of the three counts brought against Ndedigwe.

She said that prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubts, counts one and two bordering on child defilement.

Soladoye, however, discharged and acquitted Ndedigwe on count three which also bordered on defilement.

She held that the alleged survivor failed to show up in court to give evidence.

She described Ndedigwe as rough, irresponsible and destiny destroying.

According to her, the convict who was a neighbour to the minors,  had sexual intercourse with them at the same time and in the presence of each other.

She said: “When the survivors began to cry, he turned up the volume of his television set.

“The evidence of prosecution witnesses were corroborated, truthful and unshaken.

“The defendant is hereby found guilty on count one and sentenced to life imprisonment.

“He is also found guilty on count two and sentenced to life imprisonment.”

The judge ordered that the sentencing should run concurrently and the convict’s name put in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.

Lagos State counsel, Mrs Olufunke Adegoke, presented three witnesses during trial while the convict testified solely for defence.

Adegoke submitted that the convict committed the offence on November 19, 2021, on Ifelodun Street, Amukoko, Lagos State.

The Star