Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court Judge, Rahman Oshodi has criticized lapses and delays in justice made by Ikoyi Correctional Facility while presenting an awaiting trial inmate after eight years in custody.
His case was overturned by retired Justice Sybil Nwaka for lack of diligence when the custodial centre failed to produce him for arraignment, despite the issuance of a series of production warrants between 2016 and 2019.
The judge condemned the Ikoyi Custodial Centre for imprisoning the defendant without trial for about eight years until he was brought to trial on Jan. 3, 2023.
According to the judge, this illustrates gaps in the Nigeria Correctional Service’s and the judicial system’s operation.
“It is mind-boggling to hear that the defendant has been in Ikoyi Custodial Centre since 2016 but was brought to court for the first time in 2023.
“The correctional centre was directly responsible for the defendant’s long period of awaiting trial and this is appalling.”
Justice Oshodi, while delivering the judgment, held that the prosecution proved the ingredients of defilement with charge number LD/2359C/2016 against the defendant who is a security guard, Olawale Olarewaju.
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According to him, the survivor, (now 18 years old) testified before the court that she was 13 years when the incident happened and that the defendant was a security guard at a construction site.
He said that the survivor told the court that the defendant forcefully had sex with her when she went to fetch water at the site.
The survivor testified that the defendant ‘tore her clothes, forcefully had sex with her and she started having pains in her vagina.’
“She testified further that she informed her parent about the incident and the father reported the case at the nearest police station.
“The prosecutor further told the court that she was taken to Mirabel Medical Centre for examination.”
Justice Rahman Oshodi said that the survivor’s evidence was corroborated with that of her father, the prosecution witness.
He said that the survivor gave a vivid and unshaken testimony of what the defendant did to her.
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“The defendant’s denial does not hold water as he admitted knowing the survivor but made a u-turn during cross-examination that he did not know her.
“He also admitted that the survivor came to the compound to fetch water,” he said.
The judge held that the defendant contradicted himself and made his evidence-in-chief unreliable.
He after that convicted him of the charge and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Justice Oshodi said that the convict’s name be entered in the Sexual Offences Register maintained by the Lagos State Government.
The prosecution called two witnesses during the trial while the defendant testified as the sole witness.
According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015
