By Abimbola Ogunnaike
A 42-year-old man, Suleimon Usman has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Tuesday, 30 May, 2023 for defiling his eight-year-old daughter.
Usman was charged with a two-count charge bordering on defilement, which he had pleaded not guilty to.
Justice Rahmon Oshodi in his judgment, however, discharged and acquitted the defendant of the second charge, just as he held that the prosecution failed to prove the second charge against the defendant as the second victim did not testify in the trial.
“The testimony of the first survivor corroborates the evidence of the medical doctor. The survivor said that she felt pain in her bombom when her father put his finger in her vagina and also inserted his penis in her anus. I have considered the ingredients of the offences; the confessional statement, circumstantial evidence and the eye witness account.
“I do not believe that the first survivor was tutored. I reiterate that her evidence is credible.Regardless, I have already received an eyewitness account, where the survivor said ‘my daddy used to carry me every night from our room and put me in parlour and put his penis in my bombom,”. Justice Oshodi said.
The judge, who held that the prosecution provided evidence of a medical doctor who examined the survivor, explained that the medical report showed redness in the virginal lips, the anus was loosen and getting healed and there was penetration in the survivor anus.
“I am convinced that the medical doctor’s evidence corroborates the survivor’s. The mother said the crime scene is their family parlour. I do not consider the defendant’s testimony as credible.
“I find the defendant guilty of count one and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” Oshodi said.
The state counsel, Ms Inumidun Solarin, presented four witnesses: first survivor, the eight-year-old girl, an Investigative Police Officer (IPO), mother of the survivor and the medical doctor from Mirabel Center, while the defence called three witnesses during trial.
The prosecutor said the convict committed the offence which is contrary to section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015, at No. 2 Bale St., Onisiwo in Apapa,
