Special Court Sentence Rapist To Twenty Years Imprisonment

A Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja, has convicted and sentenced a 38-year-old barber, Jobi Kayode, to twenty years in prison for raping his 12-year-old neighbour (name withheld).

In her ruling, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo explained that the court find the Joni Kayode guilty of a charge of defilement due to the strength of the complainant’s testimony and the medical evidence tender as exhibit in the course of the trial.

The instances of rape have become prevalent in our society and it is almost becoming an epidemic. The defilement of a 12-year-old neighbour, who trusted him as her neighbour, is heinous.

“The defendant is hereby sentenced to 20 years in prison, to be served at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre, with no option of fine. The sentence starts from today, November 8, 2019,” the judge said.

During trial, five witnesses which are complainant, her parents, a medical doctor and a police officer, testified for the prosecution, while the convict testified solely in his defence.

The complainant (name withheld), who was a Junior Secondary School One (JSS1) student, while testifying during the trial, had said that the convict had the habit of making lewd advances at her and showing her his manhood whenever she return back home from school.

While being led in evidence, by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr F. O. Ligali, the complainant said that one day when she was opening the gate to the compound of her home, the defendant approached her and told her he wanted to see her in their compound.

She said that immediately he got into the compound, he overpowered her and raped her while threatening her that if she told anyone about what he did to her, he would kill her.

The complainant said she did not tell anyone about the incident and that three days later, he approached her again while she was opening the gate of her compound, telling her, again, that he wanted to see her.

“He promised not to rape me and when I got into the compound, he rushed at me faster than the first time and raped me. He again threatened to kill me if I should tell anyone,” she said.

The complainant said that she did not tell her parents about the incident but that she revealed the incident after a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) who came to give sex education in her school.

She said she confided in a member of the NGO team about the defilement, who later informed her teacher who, in turn, told her to inform her parents but that she declined to tell her parents out of fear.

According to her, her mother was informed about the rape by her teacher during a PTA meeting, while the mother informed her father who, in turn, reported to the authorities.

Before the sentence was passed in an alocutus plea, the convict counsel, Mr. Saheed Sanusi, had asked the court to temper justice with mercy.

Mr. Sanusi pointed out that the convict was a first time offender and has a family to look after.