The Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja presided by Justice Abiola Soladoye, on Tuesday sentenced a 44-year-old man, Oto Edet, to life imprisonment for defiling his neighbour’s nine-year-old daughter.
Justice Soladoye gave the verdict after finding Edet guilty of the one-count charge of defilement brought against him by the Lagos State Government.
The state prosecutor, Ms Abimbola Abolade, had informed the judge during the trial that the convict committed the offence between 2020 and 2021 on Solomon Toriola Street, Abaranje, Ikotun, Lagos.
She also told the court that the offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
In his judgment, the judge called the convict a pathological liar and a dirty neighbour who should be ashamed of the hideous act.
Justice Soladoye also held that the convict exhibited unwholesome conduct by descending so low as to have unlawful sexual intercourse with her neighbour’s daughter.
Justice Soladoye held, “He is a dirty neighbour who was found boxer down with her neighbour’s daughter being naked.
“The survivor was lucid in her evidence while testifying before this court as to how the defendant had unlawful sexual intercourse with her on numerous occasions.
“The survivor maintained in her evidence that ‘he has put his penis in my bum-bum before, and that was when his wife gave birth’, and said she was ordered to go and sweep the compound but did not return after a while.
“She said a search led her mother to the door of the defendant when her pair of slippers was found outside his door, and she was found naked behind the defendant’s door,” the judge stated.
Justice Soladoye also stressed that the prosecution successfully proved compelling evidence against Edet, convicted him, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
She also directed that the convict’s name should be registered in the sexual offences register of Lagos State.
The judge further advised parents and guardians to be more vigilant in training their children and that stakeholders in the justice sector should continually preach the gospel of ‘zero tolerance to sexual abuse.’
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