Father goes to prison for raping and impregnating his 14-year-old daughter

Baridapsi Needam, a 41-year-old father, was sentenced to prison by the Bayelsa State High Court in Yenagoa for raping and impregnating his 14-year-old daughter.

According to the judge’s decision, Needam will spend 14 years in prison.

His repeated rapes resulted in the victim giving birth to a baby girl.

Delivering the verdict on Friday, presiding judge DE Adokeme noted that the prosecution had presented credible evidence and pointed to the DNA results which indicated with 99.99 percent certainty that the convicted man was the father of the child.

He ruled that the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Needam had committed rape and sentenced him to 14 years in prison.

The State Prosecutor and Deputy Director of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Justice, Pere Amanda Egbuson, had told the court that investigations revealed that the accused began to rape his daughter when she was seven years old by inserting his fingers into her vagina. He started having sex with her in 2020 until she became pregnant in 2022.

Also, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Bayelsa State, Biriyai Dambo, had earlier charged the defendant in Suit No. YHC/14C/2022 with rape contrary to Section 1(1) of the Bayelsa State Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2021.