The judge arrived at the decision while delivering judgment on a count charge of sexual assault by penetration filed against Ogboniya by the Lagos State Government, LASG.
While holding that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubts the elements of the one-count charge, Justice Soladoye declared that the defendant, who had been living with the survivor’s father for three years, was an “unkind and unworthy employee who embarked on sexual frolicking with the nine-year-old girl.
While the judgment lasted, Justice Soladoye who insisted that the survivor recognized the defendant as her father’s apprentice who lived with them for three years, added that the defendant’s testimony that the survivor’s mother tried to seduce him, was self-serving and his denial was an afterthought which did not hold waters.
The judge said: “The nine-year-old girl recognized the defendant in the dock as the man who sexually assaulted her on several occasions when her parents were not home.
“The survivor said, and I quote ‘he helps my daddy when nobody is around, carries me to the toilet and asks me to pee, takes me back to the parlour, puts his finger in my bum bum and also puts his penis in my vagina’.
“Upon careful review of the evidence adduced before this court, both oral and documentary, thesurvivor’s testimony was lucidly corroborated with other prosecution witnesses which were very compelling.
“The investigative police officer, through whom the medical report was tendered, was very detailed, upright, and diligent in her testimony”.
The trial judge further stated that she believed the evidence of all the prosecution witnesses as the exhibit tendered were self-explanatory and spoke volumes, just as she posited that proof of injury or rupture of the hymen was not necessary in the case of sexual assault, as penetration, no matter how slight, was sufficient to prove the offence.
“This defendant, having been found guilty as charged, penetrating the vagina of the young victim, is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.
“He should have his name registered in the sexual offences register, as maintained by Lagos State”, Justice Soladoye said.
She pleaded with parents and guardians to be watchful not to entrust their children in the hands of irresponsible adults like the defendant.
Justice Soladoye equally stressed the need for community awareness through continuous campaigns, saying that it would go a long way to eradicating the menace of sexual offences in society.
During the trial, the state counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade presented four witnesses, while the convict testified as the sole witness.
According to Abolade, the convict committed the offence between 2019 and 2021 on Ogbewi Street, Cele Egbe in Ikotun, Lagos.
Abolade also revealed that the offence violated Section 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
