NAN-H-107
Rape
By Ariwodola Idowu
Ado Ekiti, Feb. 27, 2017 (NAN) An Ado-Ekiti High Court on Monday sentenced a 35-year-old man, Tope Odeyemi, to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping a 27-year-old woman.
Odeyemi’s imprisonment came barely five days after a 45-year-old man was sentenced in Ekiti for raping an 80-year old grandmother, the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports.
The prosecution, led by the State’s Attorney General, Mr Owoseni Ajayi, had told the court that Odeyemi, a father of two, committed the offence on Sept. 4, 2014 in Iyin-Ekiti.
He said that the accused sexually assaulted the woman (name withheld) and in the process inflicted grievous bodily harm on her, leading to her admission in a hospital.
According to him, the offence contravenes Section 358 of the Criminal Code, Laws Cap C 16, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
The prosecution also called five witnesses to prove his case while the defence counsel, Mr Taiwo Adeloye, called two witnesses.
Adeloye urged the court to discountenance all the evidence of the prosecution against his client, describing them as feeble and porous.
NAN reports that the accused had earlier claimed that the victim was his girlfriend.
He also told the court that the victim lied against him because he refused to buy her a Black Berry phone.
But the state counsel urged the court to convict Odeyemi based on the evidence before the court.
Justice Adekanye Ogunmoye, in his judgment, ruled that the confessional statement of the accused and other corroborative evidences of the prosecution reinforced the conviction.
The judge, who observed that acts of rape and defilement were becoming rampant in the state, said that Odeyemi’s sentence would serve as a deterrent to other potential rapists.(NAN)
ARIS/DOE/OJO
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(Edited by Dianabasi Effiong/Mufutau Ojo)