CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
It was supposed to be a quick errand to fetch water outside the compound. For a 58-year-old grandmother identified simply as Alhaja Kudirat, that short wait turned into a nightmare that would haunt her family for two years. But on Wednesday, that nightmare ended with justice.
An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court presided over by Justice Abiola Soladoye handed a life sentence to 39-year-old Idris Ashimiyu, a familiar face in their compound who washed cars and ran errands for residents, for sexually assaulting Kudirat’s granddaughter when she was just 11.
PM EXPRESS learnt that the incident occurred sometime in 2024. The little girl, now 13, had stepped out briefly. When she did not return quickly, her grandmother went in search of her.
What she found upstairs in the compound would change their lives forever.
Speaking outside Court 4 after the judgment was delivered, Alhaja Kudirat struggled to hold back tears.
“I was looking for her. She went to fetch water and stayed long. I started calling her name. Then I heard a small sound from upstairs. When I pushed the door open, what I saw… I shouted. My body went cold. He was on top of my child,” she said.
Her shout attracted neighbours. Ashimiyu was apprehended, beaten by angry residents and later handed over to policemen at the station.
The survivor, who has been living with her grandmother since losing her mother, later testified in court. Despite her young age, she gave a clear and consistent account of how Ashimiyu lured her upstairs and defiled her.
Justice Soladoye, while delivering judgment on October 28, 2026, said she found the survivor’s testimony credible and consistent. She noted that the prosecution, led by A.A. Adeniyi, had proven the one-count charge of defilement beyond reasonable doubt.
The defence counsel, A.O. Ayode, had called one witness, Ibrahim, who admitted under cross-examination that he was not at the scene when the crime occurred and only heard about it from neighbours.
In her judgment, Justice Soladoye held that the convict took advantage of the trust reposed in him as someone familiar in the compound.
The court ordered that Ashimiyu’s name be entered into the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register and that he serves his term at the Maximum Correctional Centre.
Outside the court, Kudirat said the trauma has not left the child.
“Since that day, she is afraid. She does not go out to play like before. She fears men. She stays close to me always. But today, after the judge spoke, she held my hand and smiled. She said, Mama, they have punished him. That was the first time she smiled in months,” she said.
Officials of the Mirabel Centre and other child protection advocates present in court described the judgment as a strong warning.
One social worker who did not want her name in print said, “This judgment tells every man in Lagos – if you touch a child, you will go to prison for life. No matter who you are.”
For Alhaja Kudirat, who walked out of the Ikeja High Court complex clutching her granddaughter’s hand, the verdict is closure.
“I thank Almighty Allah for today. I thank the judge. I thank the police. No other grandmother should face what I faced. Protect your children,” she said.