Justice A. Soladoye of the Special Offenses Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, has sentenced one Kazeem Adedayo to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting an eleven-year-old girl.
The court received three prosecuting witnesses who testified against Adedayo, while two exhibits were presented by the prosecutor.
Narrating her ordeal, the victim (name withheld) said the incident started in January 2018.
She identified the convict as Daddy Jamal and told the court that he inserted his finger in her private part, which caused her great pain and made her cry.
The young girl said it happened on a day her mother asked her and her brother to fetch water.
Continuing, she said while fetching the water, some of it poured on her body but Adedayo, who was their neighbour, walked up to her and asked to know what happened to her chest. She replied that she had sustained an injury while fetching water.
According to her, Adedayo then asked her if she had taken care of her private part, after which he now inserted his finger into it. He then asked her to follow him into his room, which she refused.
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The teenager said she was unhappy with the incident so she reported it to a neighbor who noticed the strangeness in her behaviour.
Her mother eventually found out about the incident and involved the police who immediately apprehended the suspect.
Justice Soladoye said, “During cross-examination, the victim was truthful, unambiguous and maintained that the defendant inserted his finger in her vagina despite the fact that she struggled with him.”
The first prosecuting witness, a medical doctor who works with Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, simply identified as Dr Alabi, recalled that he medically examined the victim after receiving a referral letter from the Divisional Police Officer of Akinpelu Police Station, Oshodi, Lagos.
According to him, he noticed that the victim’s private part was reddened and bruised, adding that her hymen was almost obliterated. He said his findings concluded that the victim had suffered repeated penetration, adding that the victim could not have consented to any sexual act with the defendant.
While reading her judgement, Justice Soladoye said the evidence presented by the doctor was truthful, consistent and quite persuasive with no reexamination questions from the defense counsel.
The third prosecuting witness, Investigating Police Officer, Adebayo Eko, who served at Akinpelu Police Station in 2018, told the court that he obtained statements from the victim and the defendant, which were tabled as Exhibit A and B before the court.
While reading her judgement, Justice Soladoye said the defendant “denied assaulting the victim, that he met the victim and other kids playing in a manner that he considered rough. He cautioned them before going into his room with a friend and gave them some of the toys his own children play with. According to him, he was still in his room till evening and only went outside for a party when he noticed that the victim and her siblings were no longer outside.”