WOLE BALOGUN, Ado Ekiti
A 65-year-old man, Bayo Akinwete, who was on Wednesday dragged before an Ado Ekiti Magistrate’s Court for allegedly serial- raping his 5-year-old daughter (name withheld).
The court which was presided over by Mrs. Kehinde Awosika, also heard that Akinwete gave the small girl alcoholic drink to intoxicate to make her drunk before committing the crime.
Monica Ikebuilo, who is the police prosecutor, told the court that Akinwete committed the offence on June 18, 2019, in Olorunsogo area of Ado-Ekiti within the magisterial district.
According to the prosecutor, the victim told the police that she and her 9-year-old sister were living with their father, while their mother had abandoned them with him.
The prosecutor alleged further that the victim said that there was a day, her father gave her an alcoholic drink, saying when she woke up, she saw her father on top of her.
Ikebuilo said the victim told her interrogators that it was not the first time her father would sexually assault her saying “he has been doing the act for some time.” She said that the victim said that their father would tell her younger sister to hold and massage his manhood.
The prosecutor said the victim reported her father to their neighbour who promptly reported the case to the police. Ikebuilo said the offence contravened Section 31 of the Child Right Law of
Ekiti State, 2012.The plea of the accused was not taken.The prosecutor told the court that the duplicate file had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), for legal advice.
The Magistrate, Mrs Kehinde Awosika, ordered that the accused should be remanded in prison custody, pending advice from the office of DPP. Mrs. Awosika adjourned the case until August 1, 2019, for mention.