Kemisola Oye
A Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a 41-year-old vulcaniser, Wasiu Ibrahim to life imprisonment for defiling his wife’s 15-year-old niece.
Justice Rahman Oshodi held that the prosecution has sufficiently proved the charge of defilement against Ibrahim.
Oshodi held that the convict is a pathological liar who tried to deny the extra-judicial statement he made, in which he confessed to having defiled the survivor, (name withheld).
According to the judge, he was satisfied that the prosecution had proved the ingredients of the charge of defilement against the convict.
He said: “Mr Wasiu Ibrahim, for sexual gratification, you violated the survivor after your wife had just returned home from a burial.
“She had lived with you since she was age 10 and called you daddy, yet this did not deter you.
“You threatened to beat her if she told anyone after having sexual intercourse with her.
“She did not inform anyone until days later after she was found crying at the back of the classroom at Estate Primary School, Ogba,”
The judge held that a man like the defendant should be ashamed and punished as the law of Lagos State has zero tolerance for sexual crimes.
“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 be registered in the Sexual Offences Register as maintained by Lagos State”, Justice Oshodi ordered.
The Director of Public Prosecution, Dr Babajide Martins, who prosecuted the case, appreciated the court for a judgment well delivered.
The prosecution, during the trial, presented three witnesses including the survivor, a school counsellor and an investigative police officer while the defendant, a photographer, the defendant’s wife and daughter testified for the defence.
The prosecution submitted that on the fateful night when the convict defiled the victim, blood oozed out of her vagina but she could not tell anyone due to threat by the convict.
According to the prosecution, the convict committed the offence on 26 January 2017 at about 2. 00 a.m. at No. 61, Abeokuta St., Ogba, Lagos.
Child defilement violates Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
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