An Ekiti State High Court in Ado Ekiti has sentenced a man, Durodola Kayode Ogundele, to life imprisonment for raping his 85-year-old step mother.
The court was told that Ogundele, on June 15, 2021, at Ayetoro Ekiti in Ido/Osi LGA, raped the 85-year-old woman.
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The victims’ daughter, Opeyemi Bolaji, in her testimony before the court, said, “I came to give my mother breakfast and found her in an unsettling physical condition. After she finished eating and upon further prompting to find out the reason for her restlessness, she told me that the defendant did not allow her to sleep. She said the defendant came to her room around 1am, rubbed a balm all over her body, including her anus and vagina, massaged her body, sucked her breasts and forcefully had sex with her.
“When I tried to find out from the defendant, he said my mother must have been dreaming.”
The prosecutor, Barrister Folasade Alli, called five witnesses, including the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) and a medical doctor, while the defendant spoke through his counsel, M.O. Folorunso.
Justice Monisola Abodunde, in her judgment, said, “I am therefore not in doubt that prosecution has finally established through circumstantial evidence that is cogent, compelling and most conclusively, that the defendant intentionally and calculatedly penetrated the vagina and anus of the victim with his penis after rubbing a dark balm on her body and private part.
“I find that prosecution have discharged an evidential burden placed on them in law by circumstantial evidence, supported by the totality of the combined evidence of the witnesses, corroborated by the extra judicial statements of the victim made at the earliest opportunity.
“The defendant is found guilty as charged for rape contrary to Section 2 of the Ekiti State Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition Law) 2019 and he is convicted, and accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment in line with Section 2 (2) of the Ekiti State Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition Law) 2019.”
