A Delta State High Court, sitting in Asaba, has sentenced a 35-year-old man, Idris Hassan, to life imprisonment for raping an eight-year-old girl.
The convict was arraigned before the court on a one-count charge of rape, punishable under Section 218 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C21 Vol. 1 Laws of Delta State of Nigeria 2006.
He was on August 22, 2022, alleged to have had unlawful carnal knowledge of the minor and had pleaded not guilty of the charge.
The prosecution led by Director Sexual Offences, Domestic Violence and Childs’ Rights Unit in the Delta State Ministry of Justice, Mrs Patricia Akamagwuna, called six witnesses and tendered confessional statement of the convict, who was a gate man to a neighbour of the minor.
The prosecution told the court that the minor was at home with her two elder siblings, when the defendant lured her to take biscuits and thereafter, forced himself on her.
The prosecution said the minor’s neighbour caught the defendant in the act and was, subsequently, arrested by police officers from the ‘B’ Division, Asaba.
In his defence, the defendant denied the charge and retracted the confessional statement, stating that there was no sexual contact between him and the minor.
Delivering his judgement, the trial judge, Justice Onome Marshal-Umukoro, said he believed the evidence of the prosecution, noting that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court, subsequently, sentenced the convict to life imprisonment.
