In a ruling on Tuesday, the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sentenced 34-year-old businessman Oluwafemi Asekeji to life imprisonment for sexually abusing his 12-year-old biological daughter.
Justice Abiola Soladoye, in her verdict, confirmed that the prosecution had successfully established all three elements of the defilement charge against Asekeji.
Soladoye emphasized that the convict’s action of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with his own biological child was a grave violation of natural law.
She said it was a case of incest which should never be heard of. According to her, the father of the convict, who is 75 years old, testified against him that he defiled his granddaughter, by having unlawful s!xual intercourse with her.
“The victim, in her testimony, told the court that she was 14 years old but her father defiled her when she was 12 years old,” the judge said. “She testified that she was at home with her father, who was drunk on June 11, 2020 and he instructed her to enter the room and lie on the bed.
“She told this court that her father asked her to take off her clothes and then had s!x with her. She said and I quote ‘he laid on me and put his penis in my vagina, then he took videos of me and threatened to show the video to people if I tell anybody what has happened.”
The court held that the survivor testified that her father instructed her to drink salt water after he had defiled her.
The judge said the survivor told the court that she could not tell anyone earlier because the convict had threatened to kill her if she told anyone that he had been s!xually abusing her before the last incident of June 11, 2020.
The judge also held that the medical report revealed that the survivor had been defiled as the report showed the hymen had been broken.
The convict’s mother, a petty trader, in her evidence, also told the court that she returned from the market and saw blood on the pant of her granddaughter and then asked her what happened to her.
She said her granddaughter told her that she was having stomach pain and her father gave her something to drink and then told her the incident that occurred.
The survivor’s grandmother said that a report was made at the Meiran police station and the convict was arrested.
The convict’s brother in his testimony also told the court that the convict had been causing problems in the family and had been arrested before.
The convict who testified as the sole witness in his case denied having s!xual intercourse with his daughter.
He said that he did not live with his parents but that he had access to the house, adding that his daughter lived with his parents.
The court said in the instant case, the survivor identified her biological father as the man who had sexual intercourse with her several times.
“Apart from identifying Asekeji as her father, other witnesses confirmed the evidence of the victim,” Soladoye said. “Circumstantial evidence and also medical report, evidence of the grandmother, the evidence of the grandfather and evidence of her uncle all points to the convict. Oluwafemi Asekeji, you have been found guilty as charged and you are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment. The convict is to have his name registered in the Lagos State sexual Offences register.”
