Crimes

Man bags life imprisonment for defiling 11-year-old pupil

The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, on Wednesday, sentenced a man, Stephen Francis, to life imprisonment for defiling an 11-year-old primary five pupil in his room.

The presiding judge, Justice Abiola Soladoye, held that the prosecution sufficiently proved the three essential ingredients of defilement against the convict.

Justice Soladoye said the overwhelming narrative of the prosecution witnesses, the two exhibits tendered at Olosan Police Station, and at the state CIID in Panti made by the convict voluntarily admitted his guilt.

She stated that the confessional statements of the convict were consistent with the evidence given by the survivor and her mother before the court.

“The survivor, 11-year-old primary five pupil, identified the defendant in the dock as the man who sexually defiled her when he told her that his wife was calling her to run an errand for her.

“The defendant took her to his house and had sex with her. She said ‘he took me to his room and slept with me. I went to mother and reported to her after that we went to the police station’.

“The survivor’s testimony was consistent and unshaken under cross-examination.

“The survivor’s mother testified that she went to buy drugs for herself on the day of the incident and that she met her daughter crying by the time she got back home.

“The evidence of the prosecution witness 2 (survivor’s mother) that she examined the private part of her daughter and found sperm confirmed the narration of the survivor.

“There is no contradiction to nullify the guilt of the defendant as the evidence before the court is very clear.

“The defendant stripped her naked and had unlawful sexual intercourse with her,” the judge said.

Justice Soladoye further held that slight penetration amounted to sexual intercourse, adding that the denial by the defendant was an afterthought.

“The defendant claimed he was at work on the day the incident happened but he failed to bring an alibi to buttress his point.

“Parents and guardians should be alive to good parenting in this present day and time.

“I hereby find the defendant guilty as charged of the one-count charge of defilement and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.

“The defendant should have his name registered in the sexual offence register as maintained by Lagos State,” Justice Soladoye declared.

The prosecution team – Olusola Shoneye, Olufunke Adegoke, and Abimbola Abolade – called two witnesses while the convict testified as the sole witness for defence.

They said the convict committed the offence on August 12, 2020, on Fagbenro Street, Idi-Araba, Mushin in Lagos State.

The prosecution stated that the offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

The Star