A 41-year-old vulcaniser, Wasiu Ibrahim, was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for defiling his wife’s 15-year-old niece.
Justice Rahman Oshodi, who handed down the verdict, held that the prosecution sufficiently proved the charge of defilement against Ibrahim.
According to the prosecution, the convict committed the offense on January 26, 2017, around 2 a.m. at 61 Abeokuta Street, Ogba, Lagos.
Oshodi held that the convict tried to deny the extra-judicial statement he made, in which he confessed to have defiled the survivor.
“She had lived with you since she was 10 years old and called you daddy, but this did not deter,” the court remarked. After having sex with her, you threatened to punish her if she told anyone. After being discovered sobbing in the back of the classroom at Estate Primary School in Ogba, she didn’t tell anyone until days later.
The judge declared that the law of Lagos State has zero tolerance for sexual criminality and that a man like the defendant should be ashamed and punished.
The obligatory term for the defilement offense, for which you have been found guilty, is life in prison.
Oshodi pronounced the punishment: “I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment and your name be entered in the Sexual Offences Register as kept by Lagos State.”
Dr. Babajide Martins, the director of public prosecution, thanked the court for a well-reasoned decision.