The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced a man, Rasheed Wasiu, to life imprisonment for raping his neighbour’s 11-year-old daughter (name withheld).

Justice Rahman Oshodi, in his judgment, held that Mr Wasiu defiled the survivor in a “beastly” manner.

Mr Oshodi said 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.

Mr Oshodi said notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence against the convict, the defendant denied the offence.

The judge said, “The evidence shows that you had sexual intercourse with an eleven-year-old girl, and even at sentencing, you showed no remorse. She was your neighbour’s 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.

“This is unacceptable, and you must be ashamed and punished according to the mandatory sentence. Therefore, the sentence I pass upon you is one of life imprisonment.”

Mr Oshodi also said the convict’s name should be registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.

The judge further said there was consistent evidence that the survivor, prosecution witness (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, “It is undisputed that the prosecutrix (PW3) and the defendant lived in the same house in Apapa, Lagos. The crime scene is the general toilet in the house, which is in the backyard, and the IPO gave a satisfactory description of it.

“He stated that the bathroom was beside the toilet, and they were both dark because there was no lighting in the backyard. The survivor explained that she went to the toilet because she was pressed when the defendant forcefully had sex with her.”

The state counsel, led by 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 extrajudicial statement of the survivor who testified as a prosecution witness (PW3), the extrajudicial statement of the survivor’s father, who testified as a prosecution witness (PW4), and the defendant’s extrajudicial statement who had testified as defence witness (DW1).

According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

(NAN)