The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Tuesday sentenced a 42-year-old man, Suleiman Usman, to life imprisonment for defiling his eight-year-old daughter.

Mr Usman was charged with a two-count bordering on defilement, which he pleaded not guilty to.

Justice Rahmon Oshodi, in his judgment, discharged and acquitted the defendant of the second charge.

Mr Oshodi held that the prosecution failed to prove the second charge against the defendant as the second victim did not testify in the trial.

“The testimony of the first survivor corroborates the evidence of the medical doctor.

“The survivor said she felt pain in her ‘bombom’ when her father put his finger in her vagina and also inserted his penis in her anus.

“I have considered the ingredients of the offences; the confessional statement, circumstantial evidence, and the eyewitness account, and I do not believe that the first survivor was tutored. I reiterated that her evidence was credible.

“Regardless, I have already received an eyewitness account, where the survivor said, ‘My daddy used to carry me every night from our room and put me in the parlour and put his penis in my ‘bombom’,’” Mr Oshodi said.

The judge further held that the prosecution provided evidence of a medical doctor who examined the survivor.

“The medical report showed redness in the vagina lips, the anus was loose and getting healed, and there was penetration in the survivor’s anus.

“I am convinced that the medical doctor’s evidence corroborates the survivor’s.

“The mother said the crime scene is their family parlour. I do not consider the defendant’s testimony as credible.

“I find the defendant guilty of count one, and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” Mr Oshodi said.

The state counsel, Inumidun Solarin, presented four witnesses; the first survivor, the eight-year-old girl, an Investigative Police Officer (IPO), the survivor’s mother, and the medical doctor from the Mirabel centre, while the defence called three witnesses during the trial.

The prosecutor said the convict committed the offence, which is contrary to section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015, at No. 2 Bale St., Onisewo in Apapa, Lagos.

(NAN)