An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Thursday directed that a man, Moses Joseph, should proceed to a jail term of 37 years for defiling a minor.
Joseph was convicted and sentenced by the court presided over by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo.
The judge, while handing down her judgment on the charge slammed against the convict by the Lagos State government, held that the state proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Justice Taiwo also said from the substantial evidence presented before the court, the convict is guilty of the crime.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State government had brought Joseph before the court on a two-count charge bordering on the act of indecent treatment of a 13-year-old girl.
In specific terms, the prosecution alleged that on September 17, 2021, at about 11:00 p.m, at his residence, No 25, Kadiri Street, Alausa, Ikeja, indecently treated the minor, by putting his finger in her vagina and making her suck his penis.
The prosecution equally argued that the offence contravenes Sections 135, and 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
But Joseph denied the allegation. However, in her judgment, Justice Taiwo posited that the substantial evidence provided by the prosecution is overwhelming, and therefore found Joseph guilty of the two counts.
The defence lawyer, Henry Obidinna in his allocutus, begged the judge to temper justice with mercy.
According to the lawyer, the convict is a first-time offender, who had been remorseful since his arrest in September 2021 and has been cooperative.
The defence lawyer also informed Justice Taiwo that the convict is the breadwinner of his family and his younger brother died from shock when he heard of the convict’s arrest, with the addition that the incident had been kept away from his aged mother.
In sentencing the convict, Justice Taiwo said, “I have listened to the allocutus of the defence, on the first count, I sentence you to seven years imprisonment.
“On the second count, I sentence you to 30 years imprisonment, which will run concurrently.”
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