15th March, 2024
By Adenike Ayodele
An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Friday sentenced a man, John Owiku, to 10 years imprisonment for indecent treatment of his neighbour’s 13-year-old daughter.
Justice Rahman Oshodi sentenced Owiku to 10 years imprisonment, following his plea bargain agreement to the two-count amended charge of indecent treatment of a child and indecent practices.
The offences are contrary to Sections135 and 136 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
The convict had initially been tried on a charge of defiling a 13-year-old survivor sometime in April 2018, before he opted for plea bargain.
Oshodi sentenced the convict to seven years imprisonment on the first count of indecent treatment of a child and to three years on count two for indecent practices.
He said the sentencing, to run consecutively, should take effect from the day the convict was arrested.
The judge also ordered the convict to be returned to the Ikoyi Custodial Centre and his name to be written in the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.
Oshodi also expressed displeasure at the fact that the court had spent four years conducting a rape trial before the Prosecutor, Mrs Amanda Asagba, and Defence Counsel, Mr Peter Imhanguezogie, could strike a plea bargain deal for the convict.
Earlier, he had asked Owiku whether he understood the content of his guilty plea and the obligation of the court to give out the maximum sentences and he replied in the affirmative.
The convict, in his plea for mercy, had prayed the court to temper justice with mercy.
“I have learned a lesson and I apologise to the victim and her family,” he said.
The Defence Counsel, Imhanguezogie, in his allocutus, also told the court that the convict was remorseful and that he was the breadwinner of his family.
“I pray the court to be lenient in sentencing the convict,” Imhanguezogie said.
The prosecutor, Asagba, however, informed the court that the prosecution would soon be opposing plea bargain agreement.
“Soon, we will be opposing plea bargains. Zero tolerance is zero tolerance as we must protect our girls,” she said.
Asagba submitted that the original reason for the guilty plea was because the knowledge of the law on rape was not widespread.
“However, with the increased awareness, the state will be pushing for the full application of the law,” the prosecutor said.