A man, Olumuyiwa Adjoto, maybe on his way to jail for allegedly raping a six-year-old girl (names withheld) if the Lagos State Government successfully proves a case of defilement against him.
Information from the court alleged that the defendant defiled the girl who came to spend Easter break with his wife, Olayemi Hosa, in Mowo, Badagry, Lagos in 2022.
Wife says husband guilty of defilement
The defendant is standing trial for alledged defilement before Justice Rahman Oshodi, sitting at the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja, Lagos.
Testifying at the trial as a second prosecution witness, Olayemi Hosa, who is a trader narrated that she had left her sister’s granddaughter at home with her husband to go to Idumota Market on April 19, 2022.
She informed the court that upon getting home she found out that the girl had been sexually defiled by the man she was married to.
Speaking about the incident, while being led in evidence by State Prosecution Counsel, Inumidun Solarin, Olayemi said, “On Friday, I went to Idumota Market around 5:00 a.m or 6:00 a.m, by that time I couldn’t wake her up nor make other arrangements. So I left her at home. By afternoon, I missed Olumuyiwa’s call but I didn’t have a call card to call back, so I returned around 5:00 p.m.
“When I got to the gate, I noticed the girl was unhappy and I thought that was because I left her at home to go out.”
She said after the family’s dinner, she asked the survivor to follow her for fresh air outside their apartment.
She tells survivor’s defilement story
The witness further told the court, “As I sat down and put her on my lap, she heaved a painful sigh and jumped up, I asked what happened and she said my bum bum, it is Daddy.”
According to her she ran into the house with the child, put her on the bed and asked her what Daddy did to her.
Quoting the minor, “She said when I was writing, Daddy put his hand in my bum bum and his penis and I was shouting, he asked me to keep quiet, he slapped me and covered my mouth with a white cloth, after he was done he cleaned me with a white handkerchief and said I should go out and play with a friend.”
Government agents in defilement allegation
The trader explained that she took the child to General Hospital in Badagry, where a medical doctor examined her genitals.
According to her, the doctor asked the girl child questions, and she insisted that it was the defendant who sexually abused her.
The woman stated further that the doctor told her to get a Police report before she could be given a medical report.
Olayemi claimed that when she also got to report the incident at the Badagry Police station, officers followed her to arrest her husband.
But on getting to the alleged crime scene, it happened that the police officers and the defendant were known to themselves.
She claimed that the Police officers tried to frustrate the matter, stating that they were shouting at her.
She claimed she sought for Mirabel centre’s intervention.
The prosecution witness also explained, “I called Mirabel they now sent a document through my phone to fill and then I attached it to the doctor’s report.
She said the Police later took him to court.
“I took her to Mirabel where a test was conducted on her and Mirabel gave me a letter to Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, DSVA, and I was told that the matter is in court but DSVA said they want to go and check my file at the Directorate of Public Prosecution, DPP, and it was discovered that the file at the DPP’s office was empty. I was asked if I had copies of the result and they replaced the results in the file, with the copies I had.”
Under cross-examination, Olayemi maintained that she left the girl at home with her husband because it was too early to wake the child and take her to a house close by for lessons where she use to play with her age mates, though she claimed her husband had earlier accused her of preventing him to relate with the child who was on holiday in their home.
She told the defence counsel who queried why she left the alledged survivor with her husband whom she had earlier claimed in evidence in chief that she had had similar experiences with him, but she stated that she reasoned that since the girl is a minor her husband wouldn’t mess with her.
According to her, she said the child informed her that the time of the incident was in the afternoon.
In what appears to be a tactics to puncture the evidence of the witness, the defendant’s lawyer also asked her, “Did you know that the defendant was out for most of that day and did not come back until 5:00 p.m, Olayemi, who is the complaint insisted, “The girl told me they were together that he did not go out, so it was what she told me and what the doctor confirmed are what I have come to the court to say.”
Justice Oshodi adjourned the trial till March 12, 2024 for continuation of trial.
Previously:
https://casefileng.com/2024/01/08/27-year-old-man-inserts-finger/
