Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a man, Eniola Ibrahim, to life imprisonment for raping his girlfriend on her first visit to his house.
Ibrahim was arraigned before the court by the state government on a one-count charge of having sexual intercourse with the survivor without her consent on June 6, 2012, at his residence, Lateef Dosunmu Street, Lagos.
The convict, who was arraigned on December 1, 2021 had pleaded not guilty to the charge, which the prosecution had said violated Section 260 of the Criminal Law Ch. C17, Volume 3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
During the trial, the prosecution called the survivor and her supervisor as witnesses and also tendered various documents which the court admitted as exhibits.
The survivor in her testimony told the court how she knew the convict, invited her to his house and forcefully removed her trousers and pinned her neck to his bed, and then raped her when she visited him for the first time at his house on a Sunday afternoon.
She also testified that the convict brought out a cutlass to threaten her when she was crying and shouting.
However, in his defence, the convict told the court that he only romanced and flirted with her but did not have sexual intercourse with her.
In his judgment, Justice Oshodi held that the prosecution had proved the necessary ingredients to establish the offence of rape.
The judge held that the prosecution was able to demonstrate the application of force, intimidation, and threat when the convict had sexual intercourse with the survivor.
The judge held that the convict’s landlord’s testimony was sufficient to corroborate and also the weight of the medical report was a sufficient proof.
The court also said it had considered the remarks made by the convict that he loved the victim and that the court should temper justice with mercy. “I listened to your counsel’s submission that I should have mercy on you. I have also considered the prosecution’s request that I must sentence you by section 260 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State (supra).
“You must not hurt people that you love. The evidence, in this case, demonstrates that you did not just rape the victim, but you did it in a ferocious and animalistic way. You hit her on the face which made it swollen. She had bloody eyes and swollen lips.
“In your case, I do consider the seriousness of the offence to justify a life sentence, and that is the sentence I must, therefore, impose upon you. Accordingly, I sentence you, Mr Eniola Wasiu Ibrahim, to life imprisonment.”
