- As Police sacks constable for raping detained 16-year-old
“But those with an evil heart seem to have a talent for destroying anything beautiful which is about to bloom.” – Cynthia Rylant
“Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”
― George Washington, Rules of Civility and Other Writings & Speeches
A man, Ifeanyi Ndieze, who sexually violated a four-year-old child in a church in Lagos was on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.
Justice Abiola Soladoye handed down the verdict after finding Ndieze guilty of the offence.
Soladoye held that the prosecution proved the charge of sexual assault by penetration against the convict.
During the trial, the prosecution called four witnesses including the victim’s six-year-old brother, who testified that the convict had during a church programme around 9pm carried his four-year-old sister and sexually assaulted her by inserting his finger into her private part.
The victim’s mother also testified that after they got home while she was bathing her, she was bleeding profusely and then she was taken, to the hospital where the doctors advised her to report the matter to the police.
Prosecutor told the court that the offence was committed on October 29, 2020, at No. 18, Salau Street, in the Surulere area of Lagos State.
Delivering her judgment on Tuesday, the judge said, “The ingredients of sexual assault by penetration were thoroughly satisfied under Section 261 of the Criminal Law by the prosecution. This is an unforgivable behaviour.
“The defendant is hereby found guilty of sexually assaulting a four-year-old child, and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.”
She also ordered that the convict’s name be written in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.
In a related development, the Police have dismissed one Belasa Iyangedue, a constable for allegedly raping a 16-year-old who was in detention.
The Commissioner of Police in Benue, Mr Bartholomew Onyeka told newsmen on Tuesday in Makurdi that Iyangedue has been arraigned as the police had the statutory responsibility to fight crime.
Noting that Iyangedue’s offence was against the ethics of the profession, he explained that the dismissed constable allegedly committed the offence at Tse Agbaragba Divisional Police Station at Konshisha Local Government Area.
“He was not only dismissed but he is facing prosecution. When civilians commit such offence they are prosecuted. He is facing dismissal and prosecution,’’ Onyeka said.
The victim was detained by the Police on 15 August for alleged defamation.
Brazenly, the dismissed constable, allegedly, brought her out of the cell and took her into the Divisional Police Officer’s office where he raped her.
On her release from detention the day after, the victim reported the incident to the police.
