An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has sentenced Olukayode Dayo, a former officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to life imprisonment for rape.

The 39-year-old convict who pleaded not guilty but asked the court to be lenient to him, was arraigned before Justice Lekan Olatawura on May 13, 2022 on a charge of rape.

The offence was said to have happened on Dec. 25, 2021 at Ado-Ekiti contrary to section 31(2) of the Child’s Rights Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State, 2012.

The victim was on her way home from an errand when the convict forcibly dragged her to a fenced uncompleted building to rape her.

”I was shouting but he did not listen to me, he removed my pant and started having sex with me, a passerby who heard my voice entered the compound, he took to his heels on sighting the man, the man chased him but he was unable to catch him, he came back and take me to my grandmother, he explained what happened to her,” the vicitim is quoted to have told the police.

To prove his case, the prosecutor, Julius Ajibare called six witnesses and tendered the defendant’s statement, photographs of the victim and medical report as exhibits.

The defendant, who spoke in his own defence through his counsel, Oluwaseun Oyebanji, denied committing the offence but pleaded to the court to temper justice with mercy.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Lekan Olatawura said, in this event, the victim consistently, unequivocally and unshaken stated that the defendant who was well known to her was the person who raped her.

“In all, I find proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant raped the 13-year-old girl on Dec. 25, 2021 and consequent thereupon, I find him guilty as charged.

”Consequent upon the foregoing, the defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment,” the judge ruled.