A man, Ifeanyi Ndieze, who raped a four-year-old child in a church in Lagos, was sentenced on Tuesday to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.
Justice Abiola Soladoye handed down the verdict after finding Ndieze guilty of the offence.
Soladoye ruled that the prosecution established the convict’s charge of sexual assault by penetration.
During the trial, the prosecution introduced four witnesses, including the victim’s six-year-old brother, who claimed that the offender carried his four-year-old sister and sexually assaulted her by inserting his finger into her private part during a church programme around 9 p.m.
The victim’s mother also stated that after they arrived home and she was bathing her, she began to bleed excessively and was transported to the hospital, where physicians recommended she contact the police.
The prosecutor told the court that the rape was perpetrated on October 29, 2020, at No. 18, Salau Street in Lagos State’s Surulere district.
Delivering her judgement on Tuesday, the judge said, “The ingredients of sexual assault by penetration were thoroughly satisfied under Section 261 of the Criminal Law by the prosecution. This is unforgivable behaviour.
“The defendant is hereby found guilty of sexually assaulting a four-year-old child, and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.”
She also ordered the convict’s name to be entered into the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.
