The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, has sentenced a 41-year-old vulcaniser, Wasiu Ibrahim, to life imprisonment for defiling his wife’s 15-year-old niece.
The Lagos State Government, which prosecuted the case, presented three witnesses during the trial.
They were the survivor (name withheld), a school counsellor, and the investigative police officer who testified for defence.
The Lagos State Government disclosed that Ibrahim committed the offence at No. 61, Abeokuta Street in the Ogba area of the state on January 26, 2017.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi, on Friday, September 22, 2023, held that the prosecution sufficiently proved the charge of defilement against the vulcaniser.
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Justice Oshodi declared that the convict was a liar, who tried to deny a statement he made, in which he confessed to have defiled the survivor.
He said: “Mr Wasiu Ibrahim, for sexual gratification, you violated the survivor after your wife returned home from a burial.
“She had lived with you since she was 10, and called you daddy; yet, it did not deter you.
“You threatened to beat her if she would tell anyone, after having sexual intercourse with her.
“She did not inform anyone until days later, after she was found crying at the back of a classroom at Estate Primary School, Ogba.”
The judge said the vulcaniser should be ashamed and punished, declaring that Lagos State has zero tolerance for sexual crimes.
Justice Oshodi added: “The charge of defilement for which you have been found guilty carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
“I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment and your name will be in the Sexual Offences Register as maintained by Lagos State.”
Child defilement contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
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