A Lagos boy, Eniola Ibrahim, is to spend the rest of his life behind bars for raping his girlfriend, an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has handed down the verdict.
For few minutes of forced sexual pleasure, Ibrahim, will be restricted to the prison walls forever, Justice Rahmon Oshsodi pronounced.
“Ibrahim is guilty as charged for having sexual intercourse with his girlfriend without her consent,” he declared, saying the prosecution had proved the necessary ingredients to establish the offence of rape.
The judge said the prosecution was able to demonstrate the application of force, intimidation and threat when the defendant had sexual intercourse with the survivor.
The defendant’s landlord’s testimony was sufficiently corroborated and also the weight of the medical report, he added.
“We have have critically reviewed all the materials, consisting of the written submissions of counsel already identified and the entire record of proceedings.
“The court has also take into cognizance remarks made by the defendant that he loves the victim.
“have listened to your counsel’s submission that I should have mercy on you and I have also considered the prosecution’s request that I must sentence you by section 260 (1) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State (supra).
”You must not hurt people that you love. The evidence, in this case, demonstrates that you did not just rape the victim but you did it in a ferocious and animalistic way.
“You hit her on the face which made it swollen. She had bloody eyes and swollen lips.
“You pinned her neck to your bed and raped her. A man like you, who has committed sexual violence against a woman, should be ashamed and must be punished,” the judge also said.
According to him, a woman or a girl who was a victim of sexual violence had committed no crime as she needed not be ashamed.
”In this case, the victim was not ashamed as she persisted in her quest for justice.
“Our laws in Lagos State have zero tolerance for sexual crimes and the charge of rape, for which you have been convicted, carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, which sends a signal that it is unacceptable.
“In your case, I do consider the seriousness of the offence to justify a life sentence and that is the sentence I must, therefore, impose upon you. Accordingly, I sentence you, Mr Eniola Wasiu Ibrahim to life imprisonment,” Rahmon said.
The court ordered that the convict’s name be registered as a sex offender on Lagos State Sexual Offenders register.
During the trial, the State Counsel, Ms A. Inumidun, had called four witnesses through whom various documents were admitted into evidence while the convict testified as sole witness.
She said the convict committed the offence on June 6, 2012 at his apartment on Lateef Dosumu Street in Lagos.
Inumidune said the offence contravened Section 260 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (revised).
Persecondnews recalls that Wasiu, who was arraigned on Dec. 1, 2021, had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The victim, in her testimony, had told the court that defendant, invited her to his house and pinned her neck to his bed and then raped her when she went to visit him on his house on a Sunday afternoon.
“When I got to his house, we entered his house. The defendant’s house is a room and parlour. So, I sat in the parlour, and he told me that he was happy that I came to his house.
“He asked me what I wanted to eat and I told him I have had something to eat.
“I told him I did not want to stay long and then he locked the door and carried me to the room,” she told the court, adding that the boy forcibly unzipped her trousers and took nude picture of her before raping her.
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