11th May, 2023
By Adenike Ayodele
A 26-year-old Lagos electrician, Sunday George, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for defiling his neighbour’s 12-year-old daughter.
Justice Abiola Soladoye of Lagos Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sentenced Gorge after holding that the prosecution sufficiently proved the charge of defilement against the convict.
Soladoye referred to the convict as an irresponsible adult and a pathological liar whose testimony was an afterthought and lacked credibility.
She said that the court was satisfied with the testimony of the victim/survivor because it was unambiguous.
According to the judge, the testimony of the survivor was chilling, cogent, convincing and truthful.
“The defendant defiled her by having sex with her in the bathroom and told her not to tell anyone.
“He had sex with her on several occasions in the bathroom and anytime she goes to watch movie on the defendant’s phone in his room.
“Identifications in criminal cases are very germane.
“The survivor in this case identified the man in the dock as their neighbour who defiled her severally in the bathroom and his room,’’ she held.
The judge said that the child’s testimony was corroborated by the evidence of Insp Medinat Ganiyu, who investigated the case and testified that the survivor and her father came to a police station to lodge a complaint.
“Upon arrest, the defendant wrote a statement.
“The defendant denied rubbing the survivor’s breast and watching movies with her on his phone in his room; this is an attempt to lie his way out but he failed.
“The defendant is an irresponsible adult and a shameless pedophile, whose denial of having any sexual relations with the survivor is an afterthought.
“Upon careful review of the evidence before this court, the defendant is hereby found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment,” she held.
She added that the convict’s name should be written in the Sexual Offenders Register of the Lagos State Government.
The judge appealed to relevant authorities not to relent in sensitising parents in market places, bus and train terminals, as well as at parent-teacher association meetings on proper monitoring of their wards so as to avoid sexual predators tampering with them.
The prosecution team, Mr Olusola Soneye and Mrs Olufunke Adegoke, presented two witnesses during the trial while the convict testified as a sole defence witness.
Defilement contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, and is punishable with up to life imprisonment.
(NAN)