Admin I Monday, Sept.18, 2023
LAGOS, Nigeria – A Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja today sentenced a 59-year-old artisan, Eze Chukwuma, to double life imprisonment for sleeping with his two minor daughters, one of them nine years after the death of their mother.
Earlier, the court had been told that the Chukwuma slept with the daughters between 2008 and 2017 while they were living at No. 2 Agbeke St. by Iyana-Era Bus Stop, Ijanikin, Lagos.
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Justice Abiola Soladoye held that prosecution sufficiently proved the two-count charges bordering on defilement against Chukwum and that the testimonies of prosecution witnesses were well corroborated.
“The defendant’s incestuous relationship with his two daughters, following the death of his wife in 2008, is senseless. The survivors told this court that their biological father had been having sex with them after their mother died during childbirth. The oldest was nine years at the time.
“The children were taken to their village, and even after telling their kinsmen about their father’s acts, nothing was done. They returned to Lagos, and the second child reported to the school after her older sister ran away from home as she could no longer endure the assault.”
The judge said that the school invited Lagos State Ministry of Education and social workers which led to the arrest of the convict, while the survivors were taken to an orphanage.
“The defendant admitted the act and stated that he was sorry. This is also in his statement which was admitted and marked Exhibit A. He is a dirty father who should be locked up for life as his conduct is disgracing. The defendant is found guilty as charged and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment on each of the two charges,” she said.
Soladoye also ordered that the convict’s name should be registered in the Sexual Offences Register of Lagos State.
She praised the survivors and their school authorities for speaking up and reporting to the necessary authorities. Lagos State counsel, Mrs Olufunke Adegoke, presented five witnesses while the convict testified as a sole witness during trial.
