Justice Abiola Soladoye of a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, Lagos, yesterday, sentenced a painter, Azeez Salau, to life imprisonment for defiling his neighbour’s nine-year-old daughter.

Salau was sentenced after he was found guilty as charged by the Lagos State government. Delivering the judgment, Soladoye held that the prosecution sufficiently proved the three ingredients of defilement against the defendant.

The judge described the convict as a shameless sexual pervert who entered his neighbour’s room while she had gone to work at night and sexually assaulted her daughter.

The court also held that the survivor recognised the convict as ‘Daddy Kalid’ who had sex with her three times in her mother’s room.Soladoye said the testimony of the survivor was clear, coherent and consistent, even when she was cross-examined. She said her evidence was also corroborated by a medical report.

“The survivor, who was the first prosecution witness, testified before this court that she lives with her mother and identified the defendant in the dock as their neighbour, known as Daddy Kalid.

“She said the defendant would come to her room and have sexual intercourse with her because no one was usually at home when it happened. She said, ‘I am always on the bed and he is also on the bed with me. He touches my body with his hands and uses his penis to have sex with me through my vagina’.”

The court also upheld the evidence of Dr Alagbe Oyedeji of Mirabel Medical Centre, which said that the medical report showed multiple healed lacerations as a result of forceful penetration of the vagina.

Also, the court upheld the testimony of the survivor’s mother who testified that she was a night worker and that the survivor and her brother were made to sleep alone in the house.

“The survivor’s mother also told the court that one of her neighbours, Mummy Darasimi, informed her of the incident.

“But the defendant, in his defence, said that he had an issue with the girl’s mother. His story did not add up as he tried to distance himself from commission of the crime. His testimony does not hold water,” the court held.

The judge, therefore, convicted him of the charge and sentenced him to life imprisonment, adding that his name should be registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.

She said: “The defendant is a neighbour to the victim, and in this case, he ought not to have done what he did to the child. This should serve as a strong warning to perpetrators of this act that the day of reckoning is near.

“Parents are, once again, advised that the need for mentorship and monitoring of their children is not negotiable. The defendant is, hereby, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.”