An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced a 27-year-old barber, Ndubuisi Okorie, to life imprisonment for raping a 15-year-old girl (name withheld) in his tricycle.
Okorie’s conviction by the court came barely five years after he committed the crime on Lateef Aregbe street in Okota axis of Lagos State.
The berber was sentenced on Wednesday by Justice Abiola Soladoye who ruled that the prosecution successfully proved its case against the convict.
The judge held that the prosecution established beyond every reasonable doubt the three key elements of the one-count charge of defilement against Okorie.
While stating that the convict was a pathological liar and attempted to buy his way out of the offence, Soladoye ruled that the survivor’s testimony remained unshaken when she testified that the convict took her to another location and unlawfully had sexual intercourse after she boarded his tricycle.
She said: “The action of the defendant is condemnable and shows man’s inhumanity to man. His conduct is outrageous and there was no truth in his evidence. The admission of the defendant during his cross-examination showed he committed the offence. The defendant is hereby found guilty of the charge of defilement and is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.”
The judge further ordered that the convict’s name be registered in the sexual offences register of Lagos State.
The state counsel, Abimbola Abolade, called two witnesses, the survivor and her mother, while the convict testified as a sole witness for the defence.
According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
