An Ikeja Magistrate’s
Court has sentenced a scrap collector, Nurudeen Oriyomi, to 13 years’
imprisonment without the option of fine for raping a 12-year-old pupil, Ngozi
(pseudonym) in the Bariga area of Lagos State.
The magistrate, Mrs.
B.O. Osunsanmi, delivered the judgment after the convict pleaded guilty to two
counts bordering on rape preferred against him by a police prosecutor,
Inspector S. Imhonwa.
PUNCH Metro had reported that Oriyomi had forcefully
slept with his victim on April 9, 2016, on Alhaji Yinusa Street.
The victim, whose
mother had travelled at the time, was said to be running an errand for her
grandmother, when the Ilorin, Kwara State indigene forced her inside his room
and raped her.
He had told our
correspondent that he committed the act because his girlfriend had not visited
him for more than a month, adding that he gave Ngozi N200 after raping her.
The act was uncovered
after Ngozi’s mother returned from the trip. She was said to have discovered a
whitish substance in her private parts and after probing her, the victim
confessed that Oriyomi raped her.
The matter was
reported at the Bariga Police Division, before it was referred to the Gender
Unit of the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters.
The Investigating
Police Officer, Sergeant Orebe Olakunle, had arraigned him on two counts of
rape and indecent assault.
The charges read in
part, “That you, Nurudeen Oriyomi, on April 9, 2016, at about 2pm, on Alhaji
Yinusa Street, Bariga, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully have
sexual intercourse with one (name withheld), aged 12.
“That you did unlawfully
and indecently deal with one (name withheld), aged 12 years, by inserting your
penis into her private parts.”
The prosecutor,
Imhonwa, said the offences were punishable under sections 137 and 135 of the
Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
The defendant pleaded
guilty to the charges.
The IPO, Olakunle, who
gave the facts of the case, said tests conducted by the police showed there was
penetration, adding that the defendant made confessional statements to the
police.
The magistrate,
Osunsanmi, subsequently found him guilty and sentenced him to 13 years’
imprisonment without the option of fine.
Culled from Punch
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