Justice Rahman Oshodi of a Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced a man, Rasheed Wasiu, to life imprisonment for having sexual intercourse with his neighbour’s 11-year-old daughter.

Wasiu was sentenced after he was found guilty as charged by the
Lagos State government.

The state had in the suit marked LD/8444C/2018 and dated December 7, 2018, arraigned Wasiu for defiling the survivor on or about March 9, 2018, at about 8:00 p.m .at No18, Mustapha Street, Olodi-Apapa, Lagos.

The prosecutor said his offence contravened the provision of Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Wasiu, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge when he was arraigned on December 10, 2021.

However, while delivering judgment, Justice Oshodi held that the convict lied during his evidence before the court.

According to the judge, the offence of defilement is grave and attracts a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment,

“Notwithstanding the overwhelming evidence against you, you continued to deny your offence. At sentencing, you showed no remorse. The evidence shows that you had sexual intercourse with an eleven-year-old girl.

“She was your neighbour’s daughter. She was, to your knowledge, a child. You grabbed her in the toilet, pushed her to the wall and had sexual intercourse with her in a beastly manner.

“This is unacceptable. You must be ashamed and punished according to the mandatory sentence. Therefore, the sentence I pass upon you is one of life imprisonment,” the judge declared.

The court, therefore, ordered that his name be registered as a sex offender in the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.

The convict had also pleaded not guilty when he was earlier arraigned before Justice Sybil Nwaka (now Justice of the Court of Appeal) on June 13, 2019, and in his defence, claimed that he was elsewhere at the time of the incident.

During trial, the prosecution called four witnesses to establish its case against the convict, while the defence called three witnesses to deny the allegation.

The prosecution tendered three documents as exhibits, namely; the extra-judicial statement of the survivor who testified as prosecution witness, three (PW3), the extra-judicial statement of the survivor’s father, who testified as prosecution witness four (PW4), and the defendant’s extra-judicial statement who had testified as defence witness one (DW1).

The defendant’s counsel, Yusuf Oyebanji, had in his argument, urged the court to discharge and acquit Wasiu on the account that the prosecution was unable to establish the guilt of his client beyond a reasonable doubt and that the defence of alibi deflates the defilement allegation.

But the prosecuting counsel, Mr Babajide Boye insisted that it produced direct eyewitness and circumstantial evidence to justify the defendant’s conviction for defilement.

Justice Oshodi, therefore, held that in criminal law, the prosecution must establish a crime against the defendant.

He cited Section 135 (1) of the Evidence Act 2011, to state that the standard of proof is beyond reasonable doubt.

The judge also rejected the defence of alibi and declared that the prosecution has proved the charge of defilement against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt.