Court Discharges, Acquits Man Accused Of Raping Two-Year-Old Girl During Church Vigil

Kemisola Oye

JUSTICE Rahman Oshodi of a Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, Ikeja has discharged and acquitted a man, Adeyemi Adejumo, alleged of defiling a two-year-old in a church

Justice Oshodi held that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of defilement against the defendant.

The state government had alleged that sometime in 2019, at Ajose Lane, Off Ikeolu Street, Idi-Oro area of Mushin, Lagos, the defendant lured the two-year-old survivor, removed her pants and defiled her.

The defendant refuted the allegation and accused the prosecutrix’s (survivor) mother of false accusation due to their prior tiff.  He maintained that elders in the church intervened in their disagreement and called for a cease-fire.

Delivering judgment, the judge held that he could not conclude that there was sexual intercourse between the defendant and the prosecutrix based on the evidence led by the prosecution.

“I maintain that the prosecutrix’s mother was a vital witness but her failure to testify culminated in the prosecution’s circumstantial evidence narrative. To ground a conviction, circumstantial evidence must be compelling, complete and unequivocal.

“The medical doctor (prosecution witness one) did not identify the perpetrator and did not say that the forceful blunt penetration to the prosecutrix’s vagina was by the penis of the defendant.

“The doctor admitted that no semen attributable to the defendant was harvested.”

Justice Oshodi further stated that the Investigative Police Officer (IPO), who was the second prosecution witness, revealed that the defendant denied the allegations.

“The fact that he ran away from the police station is insufficient proof that he committed the crime. Therefore, the circumstantial evidence the prosecution relies on is not compelling, it is not complete and it is not unequivocal”

The judge cited Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution, stating that every person charged with a criminal offence should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

He said the presumption squarely placed the burden of proof in the criminal cases on the prosecution, which must be beyond reasonable doubt.

According to him, “In this case, the prosecution could not prove the defilement charge beyond reasonable doubt and it is better for nine guilty persons to go free than one innocent person to be wrongly convicted.

“Thus, while the guilty may escape today,  he might not escape tomorrow and society has a chance in the future to settle scores with him but when an innocent person suffers from a mistake in the execution of criminal justice, there is no real chance of reversing what has been done.

“I must therefore resolve the issue for determination in favour of the defendant and against the prosecution. I find the defendant not guilty and I acquit and discharge him.”

The prosecution had alleged that Adejumo sexually assaulted the prosecutrix at a vigil in a church.

During the trial, the prosecution presented two witnesses, the IPO and a medical doctor while the defendant and a member of the church testified for defence.

The prosecution had alleged that while he was still in the act, the mother of the victim started looking for her and traced her to the suspect’s apartment. The mother, who became suspicious of the movement of the victim to the suspect’s apartment, checked her private parts only to discover that she was defiled; she then raised the alarm and the defendant was subsequently arrested.

Eighteen-Eleven Media