In Ekiti, 71-year-old rapist bags life imprisonment for 10-year-old girl’s defilement

Guilt-racked 71-year-old man, Sule Adeola, is to spend the rest of his life in jail for raping a 10-year-old girl, an Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti has pronounced.

On June 22, 2023, Horny Adeola was charged with a single rape-related offence in court.

The prosecutor informed the court that Sule Adeola raped a 10-year-old girl on June 2, 2023, at the Federal Housing Estate in Ado Ekiti, in violation of Section 31(1) of the Child’s Right Law, Cap. C7, laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

The 10-year-old victim, who lived with her grandmother, had said that the defendant, who was her grandmother’s neighbour, violated her between 2021 and 2023, but she did not tell her grandmother initially because the defendant had promised to kill her.

During the trial, Prosecutor Julius Ajibare called four witnesses and tendered the defendant’s statement and medical report as exhibits.

Mr. Adefolaju Ayobioloja, the defendant’s counsel, called three witnesses.

Delivering the judgment on Wednesday, Justice Blessing Ajileye said: “It is unfortunate and saddening that recorded cases of intimate persons’s sexual assault hit a new high every day.

“From the totality of evidence on record, I am more persuaded by the prosecution’s evidence that there was proof of penetration; there is no scintilla of evidence available in the contrary.

“In all, I found that the prosecution proved the most essential ingredient of rape, i.e., penetration. The defendant penetrated the vagina of the victim, and I so hold.

“The defendant, Sule Adeola, is found guilty of the offence of rape of a 10-year-old girl as charged. He is accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment.”