Man Sentenced To Life Imprisonment For Defiling 8-Year Old Daughter

P.M.EXPRESS reports that the man, Usman, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for raping his 8-year old daughter.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Rah­man Oshodi, sentenced Usman to life imprisonment af­ter he was found guilty on two counts of defilement of his two daugh­ters, aged 8 and 5, at their residence situated at Bale Street, Onisewo area of Apapa, Lagos.

The State prosecutor stated that the offences contravened the provi­sions of Section 137 of the Crim­inal Laws of Lagos State 2015 when the man was arraigned in Court.

However, he pleaded not guilty.

Usman was first arraigned before Justice Sybil Nwaka on October 2019 before the judge was elevated to the Court of Ap­peal and the case file was reas­signed to Justice Oshodi’s Court, where he was re-arraigned on two counts of charge.

During the trial, the pros­ecution called four witnesses among who were the first survivor, the 8-year old girl, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO), the defendant’s wife (the mother of the survivors), and the medical doctor from Mira­bel Centre.

After the closure of the pros­ecution case, defence opened his case. Three witnesses in­cluding the defendant gave ev­idence before the Court.

However, Justice Oshodi exonerated the convict of the second charge.

The Court held that the pros­ecution failed to prove the sec­ond charge against the defen­dant as the second survivor did not testify to the second charge related to her defilement.

On count one, the Court held that the testimony of the first survivor corroborated that of the medical doctor. Justice Oshodi said that he has considered the ingredients of the offences, the confessional statement, circumstantial evidence, and the eyewitness account in sen­tencing the father to life impris­onment.

He said, “Our society is prone to sexual abuse, sexual crime against children is so prevalent. Our laws in Lagos have zero tolerance for your gang of pedophiles; that is not acceptable. In your case, the survivor is your daughter. You put your penis in her vagina and her anus, the survivor was 8 years at the time because she had excruciating pain”.

“You are hereby convicted and sentenced to life imprison­ment,” the Court ruled.

He was taken to Correctional Centre at Kirikiri town, where he will spend the rest of his life in custody.