Emeka Orisakwe, a 45-year-old businessman and father has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, for defiling three of his underaged daughters.
The victims aged eight, eight, and six, made statements at the Satellite Police Station that their father messed around their vaginas with his fingers.
The presiding judge, Justice Abiola Soladoye stated that the prosecuting council had proved beyond reasonable doubt the three-count charge bordering on sexual assault by penetration against the accused.
Berating the actions of the accused, Soladoye stated that “This is most bizarre and unfortunate”. She also called him “wicked and a pathological liar,” adding that the defendant said his wife was mentally unstable in order to deny and circumvent punishment for his crimes.
She also chastised the defendant’s immediate younger sister, who testified as the first defence witness (DW1), for providing a medical report on the defendant’s wife’s mental state that did not correspond with the timing of the incident.
Soladoye also stated that DW1’s evidence was untrustworthy because it was a bevy of lies soiled by deception after she had influenced the minds of the victims to lie in court.
“The children were very honest but I observed the three children that came to testify and this court could see that their aunt, whom they stayed with after the incident, had been working on their brains to tell lies before this court.
“The children’s subsequent denial in court after they made statements at the Satellite Police Station that their father messed around their vaginas with his fingers is an afterthought and very unfortunate.
“The children were taken away from the custody of their mother and the sister-in-law painted lies in their minds. This court cannot be fooled. The DW1 is a liar and a wicked sister-in-law, whose evidence is self-serving to save her brother from drowning” she said.
She further stated that “The medical report on the mental state of the defendant’s wife which she tendered before this court was dated February 2, 2023, but the sexual incident occurred years back and in desperation, they went to cook up a medical report from Imo State that the defendant’s wife is mentally unstable”.
This the judge said was a deliberate attempts of DW1 and the defendant to get through the back door when they could not get through the front door as the medical reports on the victims revealed blunt forceful penetration.
“The medical reports which were carried out on the three children and admitted into evidence before this court showed bruises on the inner surface, blunt and forceful penetration of the victims’ vaginas.
“The medical examination revealed that the three children suffered various degrees of bruises from the sexual assault perpetrated by their biological father.
“This corroborates the statement of the victims at the police station and the evidence given by the second prosecution witness (PW2), an officer from a child advocacy agency that the brother of the victims, told him that he once saw his father, fingering his sister” she added.
In her ruling, Soladoye convicted the defendant of the three-count charge and sentenced him to life in imprisonment on each count.
She also stated that the sentences should be served simultaneously.
The judge also ordered that the convict’s name be entered into the Lagos State sexual offenses register.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
