- FCT Court sentences man to life imprisonment for raping maid
- Another Man gets life imprisonment for infecting wife’s niece with HIV
After a horrific and despicable defilement of a a 3-year-old girl. in Ekiti State, an Ado- Ekiti High Court, has sentenced 20 -year- old Seun Olarewaju to a mere 30 months imprisonment.
Olarewaju was arraigned before Justice Adeniyi Familoni on June 6, 2022 on a one-count charge of rape.
According to the charge, that Olarewaju, on Aug. 6, 2021 at Ado Ekiti within the jurisdiction of the court did rape a three year old girl, contrary to section 31(1) of the Child Right Law, Cap C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
In her evidence before the court, the victims mother said, “I was not around, I did not know what happened until the following day, when I was bathing my daughter, she did not allow me to wash her private part.
”When I checked, I saw it red and swollen, I was so scared, when I asked what happened to her bumbum, she repeatedly said, it was Seun.
“Thereafter, I heard Seun’s mother and my mother in law fighting outside, it was then I had true picture of what happened; my brother in law narrated what transpired between Seun’s mother, my mother in-law and my daughter yesterday.
“I reported the matter to the police who later took over the matter”.
To prove his case, the prosecutor, Kunle-Shina Adeyemo called three witnesses and tendered the defendant’s statement, pictures of the victim and defendant, medical report among others as exhibit.
The defendant spoke through his counsel Luke Ekene, he prayed court to temper justice with mercy and called four witnesses.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Familoni said, “I believe the defendant as a young person deserve a second chance to redeem himself and be a good citizen. He cannot do that if I sentence him to life imprisonment.
”Therefore, I am inclined to temper Justice with mercy to afford him an opportunity of redemption.
“Therefore, the defendant, Olarewaju Seun is sentenced to 30 calendar month imprisonment without an option of fine, the sentence is to run effectively from Sept. 20, 2021 when he was rearrested by the police and kept in detention.”
However, an FCT High Court in Kubwa, on Wednesday, January 31, sentenced a 56-year-old man, Olorundare Adesanmi, to life imprisonment for raping his 17-year-old housemaid.
The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) had reported the matter for prosecution.
The prosecution counsel, Mr Arinze Mbanefo, had told the court that Adesanmi intentionally penetrated the vaginal of his 17-year-old housemaid in November 2018.
Mbanefo said that the housemaid had become pregnant, adding that the offence contravened the provisions of section 1(2) of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015.
Justice Asmau Akanbi-Yusuf, who found Adesanmi guilty of the charge, held that evidence before the court proved that the victim was underaged at the time of the commission of the crime on November 15, 2018.
Akanbi-Yusuf noted that it was immaterial whether there was consent or not as the defence counsel, Peter Dajang, tried to establish.
The judge, therefore, found him guilty of rape and accordingly convicted him.
The defence counsel, however, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, saying the convict was a first time offender.
Meanwhile, a High Court sitting in the Ikeja area of Lagos State sentenced a man, Richard Saviour, to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting his wife’s niece and infecting her with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
The victim (name withheld) was aged 14.
Delivering judgement on the case on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, the presiding judge, Justice Oyindamola Ogala, held that the evidence provided by all the prosecution witnesses were corroborated and considered as the truth.
Justice Ogala said the evidence of the victim were corroborated by the Investigating Police Officer and social worker from the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Welfare.
The judge said: “The testimony before the court clearly depicts the evil perpetrated on this young girl and how she was abused both mentally and physically by the defendant and his wife for years.
“Revealing how she indeed cried out for help and was betrayed by those who were supposed to help and support her.
“It is imperative to state at this juncture that the actions of the principal of PW2’s school and the social worker (PW3) are commendable as same eventually brought some succour and relief to PW2, who unfortunately has been permanently scared.
“Having carefully considered the entirety of facts before the court, it finds that in this instance, the prosecution has satisfactorily proved the one count information the defendant stands faced with.”
Justice Ogala added the mien of the defendant was desperate to distance himself from the allegation by denying the offences.
The judge said when the police took the victim to the hospital, she was tested and found to be HIV positive.
She stated that the girl was later transferred to Mary’s Home Orphanage and looked after with the help of Positive Action for Treatment Access, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).
Justice Ogala, therefore, convicted the defendant on the charge of defilement by unlawful sexual assault and sentenced him to life imprisonment in the correctional centre.
