* Six accomplices at large
A medical doctor, Mistura Shogunle, narrated on Wednesday how a 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by seven men in her neighbourhood.
Shogunle appeared to give expert evidence before an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court in Lagos.
She testified at the trial of a 20-year-old fashion designer, Rasheed Fashola, for conspiracy and defilement of a minor.
Rasheed Fashola had pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge.
Led in evidence by State Counsel, Mrs. Olasunbo Abiodun-Muniru, the doctor from the Mirabel Centre (a sexual assault referral centre), said that the minor came to the centre to seek medical attention on September 28, 2020, a day after she was allegedly defiled.
“The client said that on Sunday, September 27, 2020, her father sent her on an errand, and seven boys in the neighbourhood stopped her.
“They dragged her into an uncompleted building, her mouth was covered with a handkerchief and they took turns to rape her through unprotected penile intercourse into her vagina,” Shogunle said.
The doctor said the victim was calm and clinically stable during the medical examination, adding that she had no obvious physical injuries.
“There were, however, significant genital findings. The labia majora was normal while the labia minora (inner lips of the genital) had a bruise.
“The natural covering of the vagina, called the hymen, was absent. There were no significant anal findings.
“The general findings are in keeping with recent blunt force penetration into her vagina, which could have been caused by penile vagina penetration as declared verbally by the client,” she said.
A detainee
The doctor, also a certified forensic sexual assault examiner, testified that she asked the victim’s father, who accompanied her, to explain further what happened to his daughter.
She said the victim’s father told her that he sent his daughter on an errand and expected her to return home early but instead, saw her with two men who came to his residence to report that his daughter had been defiled.
Shogunle said the minor did not disclose her the names of the men who allegedly defiled her.
During cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr. O.O. Ogunjimi, the witness said she did not find any semen when she examined the survivor.
“It was not the day the incident happened that the client visited the Mirabel Centre.
“The client did not tell me whether she had taken her bath or not,” Shogunle said.
According to prosecution, Fashola, alongside others at large, committed the offence around 8.00 pm on September 27, 2020, in an uncompleted building at Oluwashina Junction, Itire, Lagos State.
“The defendant and his accomplices had unlawful sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old in the uncompleted building.
“The offences contravene Sections 137 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015,” Abiodun-Muniru said.
Justice Rahman Oshodi adjourned the case to May 6 for continuation of trial.