Lagos Man Bags Life Jail for Defiling 11-year-old Pupil

A man, Stephen Francis, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, for defiling an 11-year-old primary five pupil in his room.

Justice Abiola Soladoye, on Wednesday, held that the prosecution had sufficiently proved the three essential ingredients of defilement against the convict.

The judge said the confessional statements of the convict were consistent with the evidence given by the victim and her mother before the court.

Soladoye said, “The victim, an 11-year-old primary five pupil, identified the defendant in the dock as the man who sexually defiled her when he told her his wife was calling her to run an errand for her.

“The defendant took her to his house and had sex with her. She said, ‘he took me to his room and slept with me. I went to my mother and reported to her after that we went to the police station.’

“The victim’s testimony was consistent and unshaken under cross-examination. The defendant stripped her naked and had unlawful sexual intercourse with her.”

Soladoye further held that slight penetration amounted to sexual intercourse and denial by the defendant was an afterthought.

“I hereby find the defendant guilty as charged of the one count of defilement and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” the judge ruled.

Soladoye added, “The defendant should have his name registered in the sexual offence register as maintained by Lagos State.”