Carpenter gets life imprisonment jail sentence over defilement of his neighbour minor
April 17, 2024
Fausiat Salako-Sanni
A Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja has sentenced a 26-year-old carpenter, Tayo Akinboyewa to life imprisonment for having unlawful sexual intercourse with his neighbour, a 12-year-old primary pupil (name withheld).
Justice Rahman Oshodi held that the prosecution proved the charge of defilement against Akinboyewa.
The judge said he was satisfied that the prosecutor’s (survivor) testimony that the defendant had sexual intercourse with her was corroborated by the medical report (exhibit H-H2).
According to him, there was abundant evidence that the defendant had sexual intercourse with the prosecutor, who, to his knowledge, was a child and the prosecutor gave a direct eyewitness account.
He said the defendant confessed in exhibit G that he had sexual intercourse with the prosecutor twice. The medical report and the defendant’s confessional statement corroborated the prosecutor’s.
The judge also added that the evidence and testimony of the prosecutor’s mother and the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) linked the defendant to the crime.
Justice Oshodi thereafter rejected the evidence of the defendant and used his confessional statement.
The judge reiterated that children deserve to be protected, nurtured and not exploited in such a vile manner.
He said he had considered the seriousness of his offence, the victim’s age, the breach of trust and the physical and psychological impact on the victim.
The judge said he saw no reason to depart from the statutory requirement of life imprisonment.
In the course of the trial, the state counsel, Mr Babajide Boye, had called three witnesses while the defendant testified as the sole witness.
The prosecution submitted that the convict committed the offence sometime in May 2021 on Titilayo Street, Oshodi, Lagos.
SOURCE: TopcourtNews