Justice Abiola Soladoye of an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court on Monday sentenced a 23-year-old security guard, Blessing Okon to life imprisonment for defiling a 14-year-old student.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that convicting Okon, Soladoye said the prosecution had succeeded in proving the essential ingredients of defilement beyond reasonable doubt.
Describing Okon as shameless, the judge noted that the victim was consistent in her oral testimony before the court which established that the defendant had been having sexual contact with her since she was nine-years-old.
“This defendant is lacking in compassion he had sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl. There was overwhelming evidence against him as presented by the prosecution. He therefore should pay for his sexual crime.
“The defendant is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment without an option of fine.
“He is to have his name registered in the Sexual Offenders Register as maintained by the Lagos State Government,” she said.
Soladoye in the judgment commended the chaplain of the survivor’s school to whom the revealed that she was defiled by the guard. The chaplain alerted her father about the crime.
“The chaplain of the school in question had a listening ear thereby allowing the victim to share her thoughts, worries, anxieties and frustration which eventually led to the reporting of this case to the authorities.
“I salute the chaplain’s courage and candor for not sweeping this case under the carpet.
“I wish him all the best and I do hope sincerely that others in positions of power will be able to speak up in issues of sexual abuse and report them to the authorities,” Soladoye said.
NAN reports that according to the state prosecutors, Mr Olusola Soneye and Mrs Olufunke Adegoke, Okon committed the offence on Sept. 13, 2019 at Ribadu Road off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
He was 20 years old when he committed the offence.
The prosecution presented three witnesses; the survivor, her father and a medical doctor while Okon testified solely in his defence.
The survivor in her testimony, said that the defendant had sexually assaulted her when she was nine-years-old by touching her breasts on two occasions.
She said he defiled her when she was 14.
The offence, she said, contravenes the provisions of Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015. (NAN)