Crimes

Father defiles 4-year-old daughter in Abuja

An Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Modupe Maduba, has told a High Court sitting in the Kubwa area of Abuja that a 35-year-old man, Onyebuchi Ezema, defiled his four-year-old daughter.

NAPTIP charged Ezema, who resides in Zone 9, Lugbe Airport Road in Abuja with assault, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Maduba, while being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Opeyemi Adeyemi, at the resumed trial of Ezema on Wednesday, October 18, disclosed that the incident occurred at night on April 15, 2020, at Lugbe Zone 6.

During cross-examination, Adeyemi asked Maduba if she knew where the defendant’s wife kept the victim the day it happened and if it was possible an unknown person penetrated her vagina.

The defence counsel also asked the investigator to describe where the defendant lived and if there was electricity on the day of the incident.

She said: “The defendant lives in a one-bedroom self-contained apartment with his son whom he sleeps with in same room alongside his wife and daughter (the victim).

“The defendant’s wife left her child with her cousin who lives in the same village, while she went to work on the said date.”

The NAPTIP official added that she did not know if there was electricity on the day of the incident.

Adeyemi further asked if the investigator discovered any blood stain on the minor in the course of her investigation and if a fingerprint examination was carried out on the girl to confirm if it was the defendant’s finger.

Maduba responded that she did not see any blood stain on the victim, adding that no fingerprint examination was carried out and the medical report did not state who broke the victim’s hymen.

Adeyemi however applied for a no-case submission to the court.

Following the defence counsel’s submission, Justice Asmau Akanbi-Yusuf adjourned the matter until December 13 for the adoption of the no-case submission.

The Star