Kemisola Oye
A Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja earlier today convicted and sentenced a man Oluwafemi Asekeji, to life imprisonment for the defilement of his biological daughter.
Justice Abiola Soladoye sentenced him after finding him guilty of having unlawful sexual intercourse with his 114-year-old daughter.
In her judgment, the judge held that the convict having sexual intercourse with his own daughter was against the law of nature.
She said, “It’s a case of incest that should never be heard of”.
Justice Soladoye also held that the prosecution was able to discharge its case by proving the ingredients of defilement, that the victim was a minor, that she was defiled and that the convict was the one that defiled her.
According to the judge, the father of the convict who is 75 years old, in his testimony told the court that Oluwafemi Asekeji is his son and the father of the victim.
He told the court that his son defiled his granddaughter by having unlawful sexual intercourse with her.
The judge said that the victim in her testimony told the court that she was 14 years old but that she was 12 years old when her father raped her.
She testified that on 11 June 2020, she and her father were at home when her drunk father came in and asked her to enter the house and then instructed her to lay on the couch and then later asked her to lie on the bed.
The victim told the court that her father asked her to take off her clothes and then had sex with her.
“He laid on me and put his penis in my vagina and then he took videos of me and threatened to show the video to people if I tell anybody what has happened.
“After he was done, he asked me to go and add salt into water and then drink it,” she said.
The minor also told the court that she couldn’t tell anyone earlier because the convict had threatened to kill her if she told anyone that he had been sexually abusing her before the last incident on 11 June 2020.
The judge also held that the medical doctor at Mirabel Medical Centre who examined the victim on 15 June 2020, said the victim told him that her father had sexual intercourse with her severally until the last time when he was arrested.
The doctor, who examined the victim, said the bruises on the victim’s vagina can be caused by penis and finger.
He also added that the victim’s hymen was broken.
The convict’s mother, who is a petty trader, in her evidence, told the court that she returned from the market and saw blood on the pants of her granddaughter and then asked her what happened to her.
She said her granddaughter told her that she was having stomach pain and her father gave her something to drink and then told her the incident that occurred.
The victim’s grandmother said that they had to go and make a report at the Meiran Police Station and the convict was arrested.
The convict’s brother, in his testimony, told the court that Oluwafemi Asekeji had been causing problems in the family and had been arrested before.
The convict, who testified as the sole witness in his case, denied having sexual intercourse with his daughter.
He said that he doesn’t live with his parents but that he has unfettered access to the house and that his daughter lives with his parents.
Justice Soladoye held that during the adoption of written addresses by both parties, the defence prayed the court to discharge the convict stating that the prosecution failed to prove that the convict had sexual intercourse with his daughter.
“In the instant case, the victim identified her biological father who has had sexual intercourse with her several times.
Apart from identifying Asekeji as her father, other witnesses confirmed the evidence of the victim.
“Circumstantial evidence and also medical report, evidence of the grandmother, the evidence of the grandfather and evidence of her uncle all points to the convict.
“Oluwafemi Asekeji, you have been found guilty as charged and you are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.
“The convict is to have his name registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offences register,” she held.
Asekeji was arraigned before the court on a count of defilement of a minor contrary to Section 137 of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State.
The state’s prosecution counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade, told the court that the incident occurred on 11 June 2020, at about 11 p.m.
She said that the incident took place in the Meiran area of Lagos and that the convict’s daughter was 12 years old when he had unlawful sexual intercourse with her.
The convict pleaded not guilty and trial commenced.
During the trial, the prosecution called five witnesses and closed its case on 6 December 2022 and the convict testified for himself.
Eighteen-Eleven Media