An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has sentenced a 50-year-old man, Usman Tajudeen, to life imprisonment for raping a four-year-old girl.
The charge sheet reads in part: “That you, Usman Tajudeen, on 21st August 2020, at Ikere Ekiti, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did rape a four-year-old girl.”
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In her testimony before the court, the mother of the victim said, “I was away making cassava flour. My daughter went to excrete. When I went to pack the faeces, I noticed blood in it. I checked her anus and vagina and saw blood coming out. I was scared. When I enquired she said it was Daddy Latifat (the accused) that put his something to where I was urinating.
The prosecutor, K.S. Adeyemo, called five witnesses and tendered the defendant’s statement, the victim’s statement and medical report as exhibits, while the accused spoke through his counsel, Tope Salam, who prayed the court to temper justice with mercy considering the age of the defendant,
Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, in his ruling, said the prosecutor had established before the court that the defendant had sexual intercourse with the minor and therefore committed the offence of rape as charged.
He said, “The sentence for the offence of rape under the Child’s Rights Law is mandatory; he is sentenced to life imprisonment.’’
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