Bizman receives life sentence for raping his daughter in Lagos

The Lagos Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, based in Ikeja, has sentenced 34-year-old businessman Oluwafemi Asekeji to life imprisonment for sexually abusing his 12-year-old daughter.

This was stated in a statement by the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, made available to our correspondent on Wednesday.

Presiding Judge Abiola Soladoye noted in the statement that the prosecution had proven all three aspects of the rape charge against Asekeji.

The statement noted that close acquaintances of the victim and the convict who were privy to the incident testified as witnesses against the convict, which led the judge to decide to sentence Asekeji to life imprisonment.

The main witnesses presented by the prosecution included the convicted man’s father, mother and brother, with whom he had left the victim.

The statement quoted the judge as saying: “The survivor stated in her statement in court that she was 14 years old, but her father raped her when she was 12 years old. She testified that on June 11, 2020, she was at home with her drunk father and he instructed her to go into the room and lie down on the bed.

“She testified in court that her father ordered her to take off her clothes and then raped her. She said her father took videos of her and threatened to show the videos to people if she told anyone what happened.”

The court added that the survivor testified that her father had instructed her to drink salt water after he had raped her. The judge said the survivor told the court that she could not tell anyone earlier because the convict had threatened to kill her if she told anyone that he had sexually abused her before the last incident on June 11, 2020.

The judge also stated that the medical report indicated that the survivor had been violated, as the report stated that the hymen had been torn.

Soladoye said that the convict’s illicit sexual intercourse with his biological child violated the law of nature and described it as a case of incest that should never happen.

The convicted man’s mother, a small-time trader, is said to have testified in court that when she returned from the market she noticed something strange about her granddaughter, which prompted her to ask what had happened.

When questioned, the grandmother stated that the victim had confided in her about the incident.

The survivor’s grandmother said that a report was filed at the Meiran police station and the convicted man was arrested.

However, the defendant pleaded not guilty, stressing that he did not live with his parents but had access to the house where his daughter lived with his parents.

In its response, the court noted that the victim had identified her biological father as the man who had sexual intercourse with her on several occasions.

Soladoye said: “Apart from Asekeji being her father, other witnesses corroborated the victim’s statement. Circumstantial evidence and also a medical report, the statements of the grandmother, grandfather and her uncle all point to the convict.

In her judgment, Justice Soladoye sentenced the convict to life imprisonment. She also ordered that the convict’s name be included in the Lagos State Sex Offenders Register.

“Oluwafemi Asekeji, you are found guilty of the charge and are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment. The convict is hereby registered on the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register,” the statement concluded.