Man Sentenced To Life Imprisonment For R8ping His 8-year-old Daughter In Lagos

 Sulei­man Usman

A man, Sulei­man Usman,  has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for r*ping his 8-year-old daughter.

The trial judge, Justice Rah­man Oshodi, sentenced Usman to life imprisonment on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, af­ter he was found guilty of the charge preferred against him by the Lagos State government.

Usman was arraigned on two counts charge bordering on defilement of his two daugh­ters, aged 8 and 5, at their residence situated at No. 2 Bale Street, Onisewo area of Apapa in Lagos.

The state noted that the offences contravene the provi­sions of section 137 of the Crim­inal Law of Lagos State 2015.

He had, however, pleaded not guilty to the two counts charge when he was arraigned.

Usman was first arraigned before Justice Sybil Nwaka on October 2019 before the judge was elevated to the Court of Ap­peal and the case file was reas­signed to Justice Oshodi’s court where he was re-arraigned on two counts of charge.

During the trial, the pros­ecution called four witnesses among which were the first survivor, the 8 years old girl, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO), the defendant’s wife (the mother of the survivors), and the medical doctor from Mira­bel Centre.

After the close of the pros­ecution case, defence opens his case. Three witnesses in­cluding the defendant gave ev­idence before the court.

However, Justice Oshodi exonerated the convict of the second charge.

The court held that the pros­ecution failed to prove the sec­ond charge against the defen­dant as the second survivor did not testify to the second charge related to her defilement.

On count one, the court held that the testimony of the first survivor corroborate the medical doctor. Justice Oshodi said that he has considered the ingredients of the offences, the confessional statement, circumstantial evidence, and the eyewitness account in sen­tencing the father to life impris­onment.

He said, “Our society is prone to s3xual abuse, s3xual crime against children is so prevalent. Our laws in Lagos have zero tolerance for your gang of pedophiles; that is not acceptable. In your case, the survivor is your daughter. You put your p3nis in her v*gina and her anus, the survivor was 8 years at the time because she had excruciating pain.

"You are hereby convicted and sentenced to life imprison­ment,” the court ruled.