The Lagos State Police Command has alleged that a man, identified as Reuben Temitope, used a criminal charm to defile a 13-year-old girl.
The accused was dragged before Mrs. E. Kubeinje of an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Monday.
The Prosecution Counsel, DSP Kehinde Ajayi, alleged that the 30-year-old defendant, a resident of Meiran Road in the Alagbado region of the state, committed the crime on Nov. 20 at his apartment.
The defendant and others at large were charged with five counts of kidnapping, illicit sexual intercourse, and possession of criminal charm.
Ajayi told the court that “The defendant abducted the minor from Bankole Olanrewaju Street, Off Agas Dalemo at Alakuko area and took her to his house.
“He had in his possession a criminal charm which he used to attack the girl.”
The Magistrate, who refused to take the defendant’s plea, ordered that he be held at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre.
Kubeinje asked the Police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal guidance.
She adjourned the case until January 16, 2024, pending receipt of the DPP’s advice.
Similarly, a Dei-Dei Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, has sentenced a 22-year-old applicant, Felix Adams, to four months in a correctional centre for stealing some tubers of yam from a school farm.
Adams of no fixed address was charged with criminal trespass and theft.
The Prosecution Counsel, Mr Chinedu Ogada, told the court that the convict committed the offence on October 19.
Ogada said that the police patrol team, led by Mr Tonushi Chibwa, while on patrol arrested and brought the convict to Dutse Alhaji Station on the same date.
He said that on the same date at about 10:00 pm, the patrol team arrested the convict with some tubers of yam suspected to be stolen.
The prosecutor further stated that during police investigation and interrogation, the convict made a confessional statement that he stole the said tubers of yam in a farm at Government Day Secondary School, Dutse Alhaji.
He told the court that the convict said he stole the tubers of yam with the intention to sell them but in the process he was caught.
Ogada said the offence contravenes the provisions of sections 348 and 287 of the Penal Code.
The Area Court Judge, Justice Saminu Suleiman, sentenced the defendant to four months imprisonment with an option of N10,000 fine.
The judge warned him to desist from committing crime in future after serving the punishment.