The Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a trader, Abdullahi Sale, to life imprisonment for kidnapping and defiling his 13-year-old neighbour, name withheld.
Justice Rahman Oshodi handed down the verdict after finding Sale guilty of a two-count charge of defilement and abduction brought against him by the state government.
The prosecution had informed the judge that the offences violated sections 137 and 268 of the Lagos State Criminal Law, 2015.
Section 137 prescribes life imprisonment for child defilement, reflecting the state’s legislature’s intent to treat such crimes with utmost severity.
The convict, who resided in a “face-me-I-face-you” house at 18 Agunbiade Street, Kirikiri Town, Apapa, was accused of convincing the JSS1 student to enter his room, defiling her and detaining her in his apartment for 11 days.
The survivor’s mother, testified that her daughter went missing after they returned from church and that during this time, Sale reportedly came to inquire about the girl multiple times, pretending to be concerned, while keeping her confined in his room within the same compound.
She claimed that a naval officer eventually found the girl sitting alone on the street and took her to the police station, after which the girl led officers to Sale’s room, revealing that he had imprisoned her, fed her with instant noodles, supplied containers for urination and defecation.
The survivor, who was 14 years old when she testified in November 2022, stated that she had never entered Sale’s room before the incident. She described how she entered and then found herself locked inside a dark room for about a week.
A nurse and midwife, Nwoke Okoi Oluchi, who testified as the third Prosecution Witness, presented a medical report from the Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) Centre in Yaba.
The report showed significant vaginal discharge, bruising, healed lacerations, and an intact hymen. It concluded that these findings were consistent with forced vaginal penetration, noting that the girl had been sexually assaulted twice while confined in Sale’s room.
The convict, who testified on his own behalf, denied the allegations, claiming that the girl approached him asking for N15,000 to obtain an abortion, initially saying it was for a friend, before allegedly admitting she was pregnant for a barber named Samuel.
In his judgment, Justice Oshodi dismissed the convict’s testimony as “wholly incredible,” describing it as implausible, internally contradictory, and inconsistent with proven facts.