An Ikeja High Court Tuesday sentenced a 22-year-old baker, Lawal Kamoru to 13 years imprisonment for defiling and deflowering a 14-year-old girl (name withheld).
Justice Raliat Adebiyi found Kamoru guilty and convicted of a lone count charge of defilement contrary to Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2011.
The prosecutor, Mrs O. R Ahmed Muili, said that the convict and three other boys (at large) gang raped the 14-year-old girl inside an uncompleted building on February 1, 2014 at Oluwanisola Street, Ilaje, Bariga Lagos.
According to her, the victim and her younger sister (names withheld) were coming from a night vigil at 5.15am when they were accosted by four boys who ordered them to kneel down.
Earlier in her testimony, the survivor had told the court that she had never had sexual intercourse with any man until she was molested and raped by the convict and others still at large.
She told the court that the convict was the leader of the four boys that raped her inside an uncompleted building.
She said, “I was returning from church with my younger sister at about 5am when the boys stopped us and ordered us to kneel down. But on sighting some people coming our direction, they immediately ordered us to get up and go”.
“The boys followed behind while one of them flashed a torch light. When we realized that the boys were still following us, we tried to run but they threatened to kill us.
“They told us to kneel down again and started beating us, and when my sister started shouting, one of boys chased her home while the remaining three boys forced me into an uncompleted building and raped me.
“I remember the defendant very well. He was the first to rape me and the one who actually tore my pant.
“Kamoru was the first person to remove his trouser and the other boys thereafter took turns, including the one that drove my sister away. He also came back and joined them.
“The boys left the torch light on a window and that was how I was able to recognise their faces,” she said.
She further told the court in her testimony that she didn’t know how she left the uncompleted building but woke up later to find herself in the hospital after spending two days on the sick bed.
She claimed to have spent two days at the hospital and that she kept going back for treatment after the incident.
My parents later reported the case at Bariga police station and I also went to make a statement,” the victim said.
However, Justice Adebiyi, while delivering judgment in the matter, said that the age of the child and the psychological trauma experienced must be considered while sentencing of the defendant.
“The defendant is hereby sentenced to 13 years in prison custody,” she said, adding that the prison term would commence from the day he was remanded.