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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State has sentenced a 29-year-old farmer, Owajulu Tobi to 10 years imprisonment without option of fine for offence of rape.
One count charge of rape was preferred against the convict before Justice Adeniyi Familoni.
The charge reads that Owajulu Tobi on 12th of June, 2021 at Ibeji-Eluja in Emure Ekiti, in the Ado Ekiti Judicial Division, did rape a seventeen-year-old girl, contrary to Section 31(2) of the Child’s Rights Law, Cap. R7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.
In her testimony before the court, the victim said, ‘’ I am an apprentice as a hairdresser. On that day, I went to my grandmother’s farm to harvest pepper, in the farm, the convict came to me and demanded for water and palm fruits, I told him I did not have water while the palm fruits belonged to my grandmother, thereafter, he left, he later came back and suddenly held me at the back, he covered my mouth with cloth, I was struggling to shout but he overpowered me despite holding a cutlass and raped me in the farm, he also flogged me with cassava stick for wasting his time. I was crying and left the farm, the passers-by took me to the hospital and later informed my parents’’, she concluded.
To proof his case, the prosecutor, Taiwo Ajibulu called five witnesses, he also tendered statements of the defendant, medical report, pant, tight and shirts as exhibits.
The convict spoke through his counsel, Gbenga Abiola in his own defence, but called no witness.
Conclusively, Justice Adeniyi Familoni in his judgment said, “I hold that the totality of evidence adduced by the prosecution, it has proved the rape of the prosecutrix (Victim) beyond reasonable doubt. The defendant richly deserves the legal consequence of his misdeed.
“However, the court will not impose the maximum punishment for the offence on his misdeeds.
‘’ Therefore, the defendant Owajulu Tobi is hereby sentenced to ten (10) years imprisonment without any option of fine,” he concluded.
