The Ondo State High Court in Akure has condemned to death by hanging one Dare Ojo, who raped and murdered an 11-year-old girl, Zainab Adeyemo, along Ese/Irun-Akoko Road, Akoko North-East Local Government Area of the state.
The prosecution said Mr Ojo committed the offences on 17 July 2020, while conveying the deceased on his commercial motorcycle to the market at Irun-Akoko.
During the proceedings, the mother of the deceased narrated how the incident happened, saying she had called the defendant, who was a commercial motorcycle rider, popularly known as Okada, to take the late Zainab Adeyemo from Ese-Akoko to the market at Irun-Akoko.
But when she didn’t see Zainab, she contacted her colleagues at the market only to be told that they didn’t see her.
The victim’s parents were said to have contacted Mr Ojo, who took her away on his motorcycle, but he told them that he had dropped her off at the market.
A search party was therefore set up in the community, which eventually found Zainab’s dead body.
Handing down his verdict, the judge, Yemi Fasanmi, said that the accused was guilty of the charges based on findings of the pathologist from Federal Medical Centre, Owo, who carried out tests on the remains of the deceased.
He said the pathologist established that there was a struggle and the vagina of the deceased was forcefully penetrated.
Besides, the police investigator also told the court that the accused led him and some police to the scene of the incident in a bush.
The presiding judge, though admitting there was no witness account, relied on the Doctrine of Last Seen.
According to him, Mr Ojo was the last person who saw Zainab, as there was no other person who saw her after the accused took her away.
Kolawole Oluiwa, the counsel to the defendant, appealed to the court to be lenient with the accused.
When allowed to talk to the court, the defendant pleaded for mercy.
However, the court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment, having found him guilty of the first charge, rape, punishable under section 31(1), (2), and (3) of the Ondo State Child’s Right Law, 2007.
The court also sentenced the accused to death by hanging, having been found guilty of the murder punishable under section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap 37, vol. 1, Laws of Ondo, 2006.
Speaking after the judgement, the defendant’s attorney appreciated the diligence of the court.
Speaking with journalists after the sitting, the prosecution attorney, Afolabi Bolanle, who is a director in the state Ministry of Justice, and the Administrative Secretary, Ondo State Agency Against Gender Based Violence(OSA-GBV), said all parties to the matter got justice.
Comments
Post a Comment