- Another defiles friend’s 12-year-old twin daughters
“This was the most unkindest cut of all. For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms, quite vanquished him. Then burst his mighty heart. And in his mantle muffling up his face, even at the base of Pompey’s statue, which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.” – Marc Antony in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
For defiling his friend’s 12-year-old daughter, the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, has sentenced Kenneth Mba, a 53-year-old rubber trader to life imprisonment.
The presiding judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi, in a judgement delivered on Monday, February 12, 2024, held that the prosecution proved the charge of defilement against the convict beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judge sentenced Mba to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of the offence of defilement of a minor.
Justice Oshodi said the convict’s confessional statement that he defiled the survivor in his room three times and gave her N200 each time after sex was corroborated with the survivor’s testimony.
The judge described the convict as a pathological liar who betrayed the trust the survivor’s father had for him as they had been friends for over 20 years.
The judge held that the evidence of the survivor was unequivocal, straightforward, and full of clarity.
The judge also held that the confessional statement was consistent with the evidence before the court.
Justice Oshodi, thereafter, convicted and sentenced Mba to life imprisonment.
He also ordered that the convict’s name be registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.
The judge said: “You have been convicted of defilement and the offence is grave.
“You, at the age of 51, had sex with your friend’s daughter, whom you knew was 12 years old.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence before the court, you came to lie in your oral evidence.
“I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment.
“You shall serve your term in Ikoyi Custodial Centre where you are currently being held.”
The state counsel, Inumidun Solaarin, presented three witnesses, while the convict testified as a sole witness.
Solaarin told the court that the convict committed the offence in the Yaba area of Lagos in April 2021.
According to her, the offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
Similarly, an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court in May 2022 sentenced a 54-year-old pastor, Michael Oliseh, to life imprisonment for defiling his friend’s 12-year-old twin daughters.
Delivering judgment, Justice Abiola Soladoye, described Oliseh, the assistant Pastor of the Anointed Chosen Vessel Ministry in Okota, Lagos, as a “serial rapist” who took turns defiling his friend’s daughters.
She held that the prosecution had convincingly proved the charges of defilement against Oliseh beyond any reasonable doubt.
The judge sentenced Oliseh to life imprisonment on the two-count charge bordering on defilement.
She said, “The testimony of the defendant portrayed him as a serial rapist who took turns to defile the survivors.
“What a disloyal and untrustworthy pastor, who shamelessly and audaciously had sexual intercourse with his friend’s children who were entrusted in his care.
“His conduct is unbecoming of a pastor.
“Having been found guilty as charged with the two offences, the defendant is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.’’
She said that the sentences should run concurrently, adding that should have his name entered in the Sex Offenders Register of the Lagos State Government.
Soladoye also berated the parents of the survivors for lack of discipline by sending the survivors to stay with the convict.
“Parents of the survivors lack discipline and ought not to have sent their children to go stay in Oliseh’s house.
“Children are not to be entrusted with rowdy adults. They should be kept in the hands of responsible adults who have their goodwill at heart.
“The need for responsible parenting cannot be overemphasized,” the judge said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that five witnesses testified at the trial and five exhibits were tendered.
According to the prosecution counsel, Mrs Olufunke Adegoke, Oliseh committed the crimes sometimes in November 2017 in Ago, near Okota, a suburb of Lagos.
Adegoke said that the defendant defiled the survivors after their father had entrusted them in his care and travelled to the village for a burial.
She said that Oliseh then threatened the survivors that their father would become jobless if they told anyone about the sexual encounter.
She also submitted that Oliseh was caught by one of the neighbours after he had chased one of the survivors in the compound and dragged her with her pant.
NAN reports that the prosecution said the offences violated Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
