An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday sentenced a 30-year-old potato seller, James Adejo-Samuel, to life imprisonment for defiling a six-year-old minor (name withheld).
Justice Abiola Soladoye held that the prosecution proved the two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration against the convict beyond reasonable doubt.
Soladoye, in her judgment, held that the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was corroborated, adding that all attempts by the convict to deflect from the offences did not hold water.
According to her, the evidence of the prosecution witnesses was lucid, truthful, and unambiguous.
The court held that the prosecution successfully proved each element of the offences against the convict. ”A single credible witness is enough for the court. ”You had carnal knowledge of the little girl when her mother was not at home. ”
A minor cannot consent to sexual intercourse, and even if there is consent, it is null and void,” Soladoye said. The court consequently convicted and sentenced Adejo-Samuel to life imprisonment on each of the two counts.
The judge further held that the sentences would run concurrently and ordered that the name of the defendant be registered in the Sexual Offences Register of Lagos State. The State Counsel, Elizabeth Adeoye, had earlier told the court that the convict committed the offences in September 2023 at Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
The prosecution submitted that the convict defiled the survivor by penetrating her anally. According to the prosecution, the offences violate Sections 137 and 261 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
