Justice Abiola Soladoye of the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja has condemned and sentenced an apprentice, Godwin Ogboniya, to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting his employer’s nine-year-old daughter.
Delivering judgment in the case on October 16, Justice Soladoye handed down the judgment after she found Ogboniya guilty of the one-count charge of sexual assault by penetration brought against him by the state government.
Ms. Abimbola Abolade, the prosecution, had told the court during the trial that the criminal committed the offense between 2019 and 2021 at Ogbewi Street, Cele Egbe in Ikotun, Lagos. Abolade also notified the court that the father of the victim reported the case to the police after the survivor mustered the courage to narrate her ordeal to him. During the trial, four witnesses were invited to testify while the convict testified as the sole witness.
Justice Soladoye, in her judgment held that the prosecution successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt the elements of the crime against Ogboniya. The judge also held that the defendant, who had been living with the survivor’s father for three years, was an “unkind and unworthy employee who embarked on sexual frolicking with the nine-year-old girl.”
The judge said the defendant’s testimony that the survivor’s mother tried to entice him, was self-serving and his denial was an afterthought that did not hold water.
“The nine-year-old girl recognized the defendant in the dock as the man who sexually assaulted her on several occasions when her parents were not at home. The survivor said and I quote ‘he helps my daddy when nobody is around, carries me to the toilet and asks me to pee, takes me back to the parlor, puts his finger in my bum, and also puts his penis in m again’.
Upon careful review of the evidence adduced before this court both oral and documentary, the survivor’s testimony was lucidly corroborated with other prosecution witnesses which were very compelling.
The investigative police officer, through whom the medical report was tendered, was very detailed, upright, and diligent in her testimony.
This defendant, haven found guilty as charged, penetrating the vagina of the young victim, is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.’’ the judge ruled
