The Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a trader, Abdullahi Sale, to life imprisonment for kidnapping and defiling his neigbour’s 13-year-old daughter (names withheld).
Justice Rahman Oshodi handed down the verdict after finding Sale guilty of a two-count charge of defilement and abduction brought against him by the State government.
The prosecution had told the judge that the offences violate sections 137 and 268 of the Lagos State Criminal Law, 2015.
Section 137 prescribes life imprisonment for child defilement, reflecting the state’s legislature’s intent to treat such crimes with utmost severity.
The convict, who resided in a “face-me-I-face-you” house at 18 Agunbiade Street, Kirikiri Town, Apapa, was accused of convincing the JSS1 student to enter his room, where he not only defiled, but also detained her in his apartment for 11 days.
A nurse and midwife, Nwoke Okoi Oluchi, who testified as the third Prosecution Witness, presented a medical report from the Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) Centre in Yaba.
The report showed significant vaginal discharge, bruising, healed lacerations, and an intact hymen. It concluded that these findings were consistent with forced vaginal penetration, noting that the girl had been sexually assaulted twice while confined in Sale’s room.
The convict, who testified on his own behalf, denied the allegations, claiming that the girl approached him asking for N15,000 to procure abortion, initially saying it was for a friend, before allegedly admitting she was pregnant for a barber named Samuel.
In his judgment, Justice Oshodi dismissed the convict’s testimony as “wholly incredible,” describing it as implausible, internally contradictory, and inconsistent with proven facts.
The judge found that the prosecution proved the girl was 13 at the time, making her a child under the Child Rights Law.
He also stated she was detained in the defendant’s room for 11 days, and that a child cannot legally consent to such detention for sexual reasons.
The court held: “The circumstances, considered together with the medical evidence of vaginal penetration, permit only one rational conclusion: the defendant engaged in sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix during her confinement.”
Justice Oshodi further described the crimes as “grievous,” emphasising that Sale had betrayed his neighbour’s trust and worsened the family’s distress by pretending to help search for the girl while holding her in his room and sexually exploiting her.
He stated that section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State prescribes life imprisonment for child defilement, reflecting the legislature’s intent to treat such crimes with utmost severity.
The judge held, “Abdullahi Sale, on count one, the offence of defilement contrary to section 137 of the Criminal Law, I sentence you to life imprisonment. On count two, the offence of abduction contrary to section 268 of the same law, I sentence you to seven years’ imprisonment.
“The sentence on count two shall run from the date of your remand in custody on September 17, 2021. Both sentences shall run concurrently, which means you shall serve life imprisonment.
“As the prosecution urged me during sentencing in accordance with sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law, 2021, I order that your name be entered into the Sex Offenders Register,” Justice Oshodi held.