The Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court on Wednesday sentenced a man, Adewale Ibitoye, to life imprisonment for having sexual intercourse with his 14-year-old daughter.

Justice Abiola Soladoye also sentenced Mr Ibitoye’s friend, Moses Okrukpe, to life imprisonment for defiling and impregnating the survivor at 14.

Ms Soladoye held that the prosecution had convincingly proved the charge of defilement against the convicts.

She condemned the act of the first defendant for having sex with his underage daughter several times before passing her to his friend for a pseudo-marriage over a bottle of gin. 

“The survivor testified that her father had sexual intercourse with her on several occasions and that her father gave her hand in marriage to the second convict after he visited their house and gifted her father a bottle of gin.

“She said the second defendant had sexual intercourse with her, which led to pregnancy and the first defendant, in his testimony, confirmed that he collected a bottle of gin from his friend as wedding rights. 

“The testimony of the third prosecution witness, a police investigative officer (IPO), also confirmed to the court that the survivor was 14 years when she started living with the second defendant as his wife and that he registered her in a local hospital in Ijebu Ode while she was pregnant with the baby,” she said.

Ms Soladoye maintained that it was right before the court that a 14-year-old girl could not give consent in marriage and condemned the first defendant for engaging her daughter in the uncultured act.

She referred to the convicts as “beasts in human form” who should serve the remainder of their lives behind bars as they should not be seen among the sane in society. 

“The most pathetic is that the survivor was made to go through torture by making her go through pregnancy at such early age. 

“The convicts are hereby found guilty as charged and hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” she said. 

The judge said the convicts should have their names written in the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.

The prosecution team, Olusola Soneye and Abimbola Abolade, presented three witnesses during the trial, while the defendants testified as sole witnesses in the case.

The prosecution said the convicts committed the offence sometime in 2017 in Epe, Agbowa, Lagos. 

(NAN)