MICHAEL AKINOLA
Justice may have come the way of an 8-year old girl, who was defiled by her biological father, Suleiman Usman, following the recent judgment by the Court in Lagos State.
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.