The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced Olumuyiwa Adjoto to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of defiling and sexually assaulting his wife’s six-year-old niece.
Justice Rahman Oshodi of Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday sentenced Adjoto after he held that the prosecution had successfully proved beyond reasonable doubt, two counts out of the three-count charge against Adjoto.
Adjoto was arraigned by Lagos State Government on a three-count charge bordering on defilement, sexual assault by penetration and indecent treatment of a child.
During the trial, the State Counsel, Bukola Okeowo called four witnesses; the survivor, her mother, a medical officer and an investigative Police Officer, while the convict testified as a sole witness for defence.
Okeowo told the court that the convict committed the offences on April 22, 2022 at about 1.00 p.m. opposite Erubami House, along Primary School Road, Mowo, Badagry, Lagos State.
The prosecution submitted that the convict defiled the child who was put in his care after the wife went to the market.
According to the prosecution, the offences contravene Sections 137 and 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos, 2015.
Oshodi, while delivering the judgment, found Adjoto guilty of defilement and sexual assault by penetration.
He, however, discharged the convict of the third count, which was indecent treatment of a child.
The court held that the offences committed by the convict were grave ones as injuries inflicted upon the child might never fully heal.
According to Oshodi, the evidence before the court established that the defendant defiled and sexually assaulted a six-year-old child who was entrusted to his care.
The court-imposed life imprisonment on each of the two guilty counts, with both sentences to run concurrently, underscoring a strong judicial stance against such heinous acts of child exploitation and abuse.
