AN IKEJA Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, on Wednesday, sentenced a man, Ojo Oladeji, to life imprisonment for defiling a 11-year-old minor.
Justice Rahman Oshodi in his judgment, held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubts the charge of defilement against Ojo.
Oshodi said the confessional statement of the convict, the medical report and the direct evidence from the survivor showed that he committed the offence.
According to him: “The prosecutrix (survivor), in her evidence, said that the defendant, a bricklayer, had lured her to an uncompleted building three times, gave her beer and had sex with her.
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“I believe the prosecutrix’s direct witness testimony, her going to the police and the hospital and the role her mother played, supported her evidence.
“Moreover, the defendant confessed to the crime, corroborating her evidence and that of the medical report.
“I am satisfied that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubts that the defendant had sex with prosecutrix as she is a child who cannot give consent to sexual activities.”
The judge, thereafter, convicted him of the charge and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Oshodi said: “Mr Ojo Oladeji, I have convicted you of defilement and I have listened to your plea for mercy but the evidence shows that you had sex with an 11-year-old girl, who was to your knowledge, a child.
“You also gave her alcohol and she told her mother she wanted to marry you after her primary six but her mother had to persuade her and play along for her to identify you. The psychological harm you have caused this victim may last for decades and may ruin her life and those close to her.
“Additionally, you confessed to your crime but during your trial which lasted for over a year, you made a reversal by telling lies.”
He said that defilement was a grave offence punishable by mandatory life imprisonment.
“The law was created to demonstrate that it is not acceptable. Therefore, the sentence I pass upon you is one of life imprisonment,” the judge said.
The state counsel, led by Mr Babajide Boye, called three witnesses while the defendant also called three witnesses during trial.
The prosecutor submitted that the convict unlawfully had sex with the survivor on July 20, 2021, at an uncompleted building on Agberuba Street, Meiran, Lagos.
According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015. (NAN)
