- Teenager rapes neighbour’s five-year-old daughter on Election Day
A medical doctor, Mrs. Sekinat Oredoyin, on Wednesday narrated to a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja how a prophet, Olushola Akinsipe, allegedly defiled a 13-year-old visually impaired girl under the pretext of performing witchcraft deliverance for the victim.
Oredoyin, a public health physician at Yaba Local Council Development Area, was led in evidence by the state prosecutor, Michael Adewoye.
The witness told the court that the survivor presented herself for a medical examination alongside her father on December 12, 2020.
According to her, the survivor narrated how the defendant, the pastor of Power of the Home Deliverance Ministry, allegedly had forceful penetration with her on five occasions.
She told Justice Hakeem Oshodi that the survivor and her father were referred from Owutu Police Station.
“The survivor is a visually impaired child and her father took her to the defendant for deliverance.
“She said the defendant gave her an unknown substance to drink after that, she could not remember anything but she was able to narrate to her father after he discovered a brownish discharge under her pants and interrogated her,” she said.
The witness further told the court that the survivor had hyper-pigmentation around her face and some marks on her waist which the survivor told her were injuries sustained during deliverance.
She added, “The survivor said the defendant beat her with banana leaves during deliverance and also scrubbed her back with salt. The medical examination findings were in keeping with forceful vagina penetration.
“The blood samples showed pregnancy test was negative but because of the sour on her body, I directed her to Domestic Sexual Violence Agency for counselling.
“At that time, she was depressed as she believed that she was the one that killed her mother and she was made to believe that her father was not progressing because of her.”
The prophet is facing a three-count of defilement, indecent treatment of a child and trial by ordeal.
According to the prosecution, the offences committed contravened Sections 128(b), 135, and 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
Justice Oshodi adjourned the case till April 17 for the continuation of trial.
In a related development, an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ogba, Lagos State, on Wednesday, remanded a teenager, Tosin Oloyede, for allegedly raping a five-year-old girl during the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.
Magistrate Mrs. B. O. Osusanmi remanded the defendant at the Special Correctional Centre for Boys in Oregun pending legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution.
The prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Akeem Raji, told the court that the incident happened on February 25, 2023, adding that the 16-year-old suspect allegedly defiled his neighbour’s daughter around 2 pm in the Ikorodu area of the state.
Raji said, “Oloyede defiled the victim by having sexual intercourse with her.”
According to the prosecutor, the offence committed contravened Section 27 and is punishable under Section 210 (8) of the Child Right Law of Lagos State 2015.
The defendant’s plea was not taken as he was brought to the court on a remand application.
When the matter was called in court on Wednesday, the victim began to cry immediately after she saw the suspect who raped her.
The investigation police officer, Inspector Esther Igbineweka, told Magistrate Osusanmi that the suspect made a confessional statement at the Igbogbo Police Station when the parents reported the matter and he also made a confessional statement at the police command in Ikeja.
Igbineweka said, “The defendant confessed to us that he had carnal knowledge with the victim.”
Meanwhile, at the open court, the suspect only admitted that he touched the girl.
A lawyer, Abdulkareem Jagun, announced his appearance for the complainant and a lawyer also represented the defendant.
The father of the victim said on the day of the incident, he and his wife went out to cast their vote since it was Election Day.
He said, “We went to cast our vote on Election Day and when we returned, my son said he was playing football outside when the boy raped his sister.
“While he was playing the ball outside, he said he discovered that he didn’t see his sister and went in search of her. He told us that he caught the boy who is my neighbour’s son when he got inside the house.
“My son also told us that the parents of the boy begged him not to tell us when we returned but my son said how will he not tell us about such a thing that happened to his sister.”
The case was adjourned till April 12, 2023, for the DPP’s legal advice.
