Kemisola Oye
JUSTICE Rahman Oshodi of a Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja has been told of how two school security guards, Olabamiji Qudus and Jonah Christian, allegedly defiled a 16-year-old girl.
The prosecution witness, a businesswoman, narrated to the court in the ongoing trial of the duo (Qudus and Christian) over allegedly defiling her 16-year-old niece.
The state government had arraigned the defendants on a two-count charge bordering on defilement and sexual assault by penetration.
The prosecution said they committed the offences sometime in February 2022 at Tonia International College, Coker in Orile-Iganmu, Lagos. They allegedly assaulted the survivor and has unlawful sexual intercourse with her through the anus and vagina.
Their offences, according to the state government, contravene the provision of sections 137 and 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
However, led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Mr Babajide Boye, the witness who affirmed to have recognised the defendants, said they were security guards of the school which the survivor attended.
She narrated to the court that the survivor started living with her after the demise of her mother in 2015, then she was in Junior Secondary School One (JSS1). She said the survivor is a slow learner and talker.
According to her, “The girl (survivor) took ill and was given a malaria drug but that was to no avail until faeces started coming out of her anus. She was taken to General Hospital at Isolo, but we were referred to Andrew Hospital in Surulere where we were told that she has been defiled through the anus.
“We took her home and questioned her before she confessed that the gate men in her school had sexual intercourse with her. She told us that they threatened to kill her if she dared tell anyone”
The witness further told the court that she reported the case at Orile-Iganmu Police Station. The police reportedly asked the victim to point to who slept with her and she pointed at the two defendants.
However, during cross-examination by the defendants’ counsel, Mr Mufutau Durojaiye, the witness stressed that the survivor is her late sister’s daughter (niece). She maintained that the survivor is not mentally ill but it only takes a while to answer questions.
She said that the findings from the hospital showed that the survivor was defiled through the anus.”The police at Orile-Iganmu took us to WARIF where we were referred to Ikeja General Hospital, from where she was given drugs and a medical report.”
The trial Justice Oshodi after listening to her evidence-in-chief subsequently adjourned further hearing to 27 February 2024.
Eighteen-Eleven Media