An Ikeja Special Offences Court has sentenced a 38-year-old barber, Jobi Kayode, to 20 years in prison for defiling his 12-year-old neighbour.
Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo sentenced Kayode on Friday after finding him guilty of a charge of defilement due to the strength of the complainant’s testimony and the medical evidence.
“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, Nov. 8, 2019,” the judge held.
In the course of the trial, five witnesses (the complainant, her parents, a medical doctor and a police officer) testified for the prosecution, while Kayode testified solely in his defence.
The complainant (name withheld), who was a Junior Secondary School One (JSS1) student, while testifying during the trial, said the convict had the habit of making lewd advances at her and showing her his manhood whenever she was heading home from school.
The student said that one day, when she was opening the gate to the compound of their home, the defendant approached her and told her he wanted to see her neighbour in the compound.
She said immediately he got into the compound, he overpowered and defiled her.
“He threatened me that if I should tell anyone about what he did to me, he would kill me,” she had told the court.
The complainant said she did not tell anyone about the incident and that three days later, the convict repeated the act.
She said she did not tell her parents about the incident but that she spoke about it when a non-governmental organisation (NGO) came to give sex education in her school.
Kayode, in his defence, denied defiling his neighbour.
“I had, at no time, visited the complainant’s compound. Their gate was always locked with a padlock,” he said. (NAN)
