Admin I Tuesday, May 14, 2024
IKEJA, Nigeria – A Domestic and Sexual Offences Court sitting in Ikeja today sentenced a painter, Sikiru Oluwasegun to life imprisonment for raping a 20-year-old student of Lagos State University of Science and Technology, (LASUSTECH) .
Justice Rahman Oshodi found the defendant, Oluwasegun guilty of having sexual intercourse with the survivor without her consent on July 19, 2021, at 3:45 am in Ikorodu.
Oshodi sentenced the defendant after he resolved the issue for determination in favour of the prosecution who tendered the defendant’s confessional statement as evidence.
He found Oluwasegun’s confessional statement given to the police in which the defendant admitted to raping the survivor to “meet the criteria of the supreme court and is direct, positive and unequivocal” in establishing that he committed the offence.
The judge said, “The defendant in his confessional statement admitted to making his way into the room of the prosecutrix (name withheld) and raped her because he liked her but he could not tell her as she was new to the compound.”
Oshodi said the defendant is a painter who lived in the same building as the survivor who is a student of Lagos State University of Science and Technology, (LASUSTECH), Ikorodu.
He said the survivor reported the incident to the student union of the LASUSTECH on the next day and they got the police to arrest the defendant. The judge said the defendant wrote a voluntary statement admitting to the offence in front of the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) who also visited the scene of the incident.
However, Oshodi said the defendant attempted to recant his admission of the offence during trial, by saying he was robbed on the day of the offence and that the police beat him and forced him to sign the statement which he did not write. Oshodi said, “I do not believe the defendant when he said he was forced to sign the confessional statement.”
“Aside from the confessional statement, the evidence shows the defendant had the opportunity to commit the offence,” the judge added.
Oshodi convicted Oluwasegun of rape contrary to Section 260 of the Criminal Law, Laws of Lagos State 2015. When the judge asked the convict if he had anything to say before his sentencing, he asked the judge to have mercy on him.
The prosecutor Inumidun Solarin, however, told the court to sentence the defendant to life imprisonment according to the law and to order that his name be registered in the Lagos State sex offenders register.
Solarin told the court to consider that the convict was not remorseful of what he did to the survivor.
“The effect of the action of the defendant would be long-lasting on the prosecutrix.” When the judge called on the defence counsel for his allocutus, he said he had nothing to add.
“Your actions show a callous disregard for the victim’s fundamental human rights. I have considered the factors applied in your confessional statement that you were attracted to the victim but could not express your interest correctly because she was a new tenant.
“Being attracted to someone does not give you the right to force yourself on them. There is no justification for rape. You admitted to the offence in your statement but during trial, you concocted a story that you were robbed and beaten on that night.
“Your attempt to mislead the court shows you are not remorseful and signifies your disregard for the rule of law.”
Oshodi sentenced him to life imprisonment and ordered him to be returned to the Medium Correctional Centre where he would spend the rest of his sentence.
The prosecution called one witness, the IPO while the defence counsel called three witnesses, namely the defendant’s mother, the defendant himself and a friend of the defendant.
