Justice Rahman Oshodi of a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, Ikeja, yesterday, sentenced a bricklayer, Ojo Oladeji, to life imprisonment for defiling a 11-year-old girl three times in an uncompleted building.
The judge, who sentenced him after he was found guilty as charged by the state government, held that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubts the charge of defilement against the defendant
The prosecutor has told court that the convict unlawfully had sex with the survivor sometimes in July 20, 2021 at an uncompleted building on Agberuba Street, Meiran, Lagos.
According to the prosecution, the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015. According to the judge, the confessional statement of the convict, the medical report and the testimony of the survivor showed that the defendant committed the offence.
“The prosecutrix (survivor), in her evidence, said that the defendant was a bricklayer to her neighbour and that he lured her to an uncompleted building three times, gave her beer and had sex with her.
“Moreover, the defendant confessed to the crime, corroborating her evidence and that of the medical report. I am satisfied that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubts that the defendant had sex with prosecutrix as she is a child who can not give consent to sexual activities.
“Mr Ojo , I have convicted you of defilement and I have listened to your plea for mercy, but the evidence shows that you had sex with an 11-year-old girl, who was to your knowledge, a child.
“You also gave her alcohol and she told her mother she wanted to marry you after her primary six but her mother had to persuade her and play along for her to identity you. The psychological harm you have caused this victim may last for decades and.may ruin her life and those close to her,” the court held.
The judge further held that the convict confessed to the crime but during his trial which lasted for over a year, he made a reversal by telling lies.
He said that defilement was a grave offence punishable by mandatory life imprisonment.“The law was created to demonstrate that it is not acceptable. During the trial, the state counsel led by Mr. Babajide Boye, called three witnesses while the defendant also called three witnesses.
