A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on Wednesday convicted and sentenced a man, Dennis Okubiat, to 20 years imprisonment for raping a 12-year-old girl for three months, which caused urinary incontinence.

Justice Ismail Ijelu held that the victim had testified that she went for evangelism and, in the process, went to check on the convict, who had not been coming to church after the pastor of her church said they should visit members who had not been seen in church for some time.

He said that she testified that because she respected Okubiat as an elder of their church, she went to check on him and then helped him wash plates and clean his house.

The victim further testified that after she was done, the convict offered her Garri because she loved Garri so much.

“So, he gave me garri and groundnut to drink, and I slept off. When I woke up, I saw a white substance in my private part, and I woke Okubiat up and asked him what happened to me; he said if I told anybody, he would kill me.

“He did it several times for three months, and on September 6, 2021, he came to my house and said we should do it; I said I don’t know what you have been doing to me, so he started shouting and calling me to come and do it; that was how our neighbours heard and caught him.

“After he raped me, whenever I sit down, my private part is always itching me, and it makes me look like a mad girl in the street. When I wake up in the morning, I’m always wet, but during the day, I can control myself.

“This never happened to me before Okubiat raped me; I always woke up by myself at night to urinate, but after the rape, I’m not able to control myself, especially at night,” the victim had testified, according to the judge.

Justice Ijelu also stated that when the victim was cross-examined by the defence counsel M. O. Kareem about the white substance she saw on her private part, she repeated that the convict said if she told anybody, he would kill her and told her that the pastor of their church was a wicked man who did not care about anybody, saying that was why he stopped going to the church.

The judge further held that Okubiat didn’t deny the testimony of the victim, nor did he challenge it. He said he knew the girl and that he knew that she was a 12-year-old child.

In his defence, Okubiat said the victim came to his house because her mother was working in a hotel and she abandoned the victim and her other siblings, and that he used to give the victim and her sisters food whenever they said they were hungry.

He also testified that he had known the victim’s family since the time they came into the community.

A nurse, Oluchi Nwoke-Okoi, a staff of the Women At Risk Foundation, had also testified during the trial that the victim was brought to their office on September 14, 2021, by her relatives on account of the sexual defilement of a minor.

According to Nwoke-Okoi, the victim said when she entered his house, he offered her garri and groundnut, and after she took two spoons, she became drowsy and slept off.