A Lagos State High Court has sent a strong message against perpetrators of sexual abuse.
Justice Josephine Oyefeso ruled that “paedophiles must be kept away from the society, as violating a child is barbaric, immoral, and devoid of any sound reasoning”.
The judge made this pronouncement in her judgement on Tuesday as she sentenced a 35-year-old man, Okechukwu Nwachukwu to life imprisonment for defiling an eight-year-old.
Justice Oyefeso convicted Nwachukwu of the offence of child defilement contrary to section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
The convict was arraigned before the court on two counts of defiling two girls aged seven and eight. He was however convicted only on the charge of defiling the eight-year-old.
During trial, one of the girls, in her testimony, had told the court that she was standing on the road around their house waiting for her school’s bus when she saw the uncle she referred to as “Uncle Okey” coming.
She said she pleaded with him to carry her up to see if her school bus was coming.
But the defendant instead carried her into the kitchen of an uncompleted building, and defiled her.
A medical doctor at Mirabel Centre, Lagos who conducted tests on the girls confirmed that one of them had bruises in her private part while one did not, but added that the absence of bruises does not mean that there was no penetration or rape, especially when the act had taken long like it had in this case.
The convict, Nwachukwu, however, denied having sex with the girls. He admitted though that he touched one of the girls’ lap, removed her pants and penetrated her with his finger.
He had no witness to call in his defence.
Delivering judgement in the matter, Justice Oyefeso considered three issues; “One was whether the victim was a child, which according to the Lagos State Child Rights Law, is a person under the age of 18 years.
Two, to determine if there was penetration.
Three, corroboration of the victim’s evidence by an independent witness”.
Justice Oyefeso referred to a case decided by the Supreme Court whereby the court stated that “violating a child was barbaric, immoral and devoid of any reason whatsoever and paedophiles must be kept away”.
The judge also considered the emotional and physical pains the child must have been put through. She resolved all these issues against the defendant and sentenced him to life imprisonment in accordance with Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.
