40-year old bags 21 years imprisonment for attempted sexual assault on minors
40-year old bags 21 years imprisonment for attempted sexual assault on minors
By John Okezie
An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced a 40- year old man, to 21 years at the correctional centre, for attempted sexual assault on minors.
The convict, Ita Love, was sentenced for attempting to sexually assault two sisters aged six and four years respectively.
AbeyaNews reports that Justice Rahman Oshodi, sentenced the convict, following a plea bargain agreement.
He was brought to court by the Lagos State Government, on an amended two-count charge of attempted assault by penetration and indecent treatment of a child.
The convict was initially arraigned before Justice Sybil Nwaka on Oct. 8, 2019, on a two-count charge bordering on defilement.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He was however, re- arraigned on Oct. 15, 2021, before Justice Oshodi and he had again, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Feb. 1, 2024, the convict was again re-arraigned on an amended charge before the same court, and this time, he pleaded guilty.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Oshodi held that the convict understood the nature of the offences to which he had pleaded guilty, and therefore, understood the consequences.
Oshodi, consequently, sentenced the convict to a term of 14 years imprisonment on count one, and to a term of seven years imprisonment on count two.
He held that the terms of imprisonment would run consecutively and would commence from Feb.7, 2018, the day of his remand.
The court also ordered that the name of the convict be registered in the sex offender’s register maintained by the state government.
Earlier, State Counsel, Mr Samuel Dada, who held brief for the lead Counsel, Mr Babajide Boye, had argued that the convict took advantage of the survivors as minors.
He had urged the court to grant them justice.
According to the charge, the convict committed the offences between August 2017 and February 2018, at Jafajo Street, Abule-Oki in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos.
He was said to have attempted to penetrate one of the survivors (aged six years) with his finger, and had also fondled the private part of the other minor aged three years.
The offences contravene the provisions of sections 135 and 262 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.
