Ayodele Olalere
Justice Abiola Soladoye of
an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced a man, Collins Okechukwu, to life imprisonment for raping and robbing 25-year-old student (name withheld) on school campus.
The convict committed the offense on December 17, 2017 at 9pm behind the Faculty of Arts building, University of Lagos, according to the Lagos State prosecution counsel, Mr Peter Owolabani.
During trial, the Prosecution told the court that the convict lured the victim to the building behind the faculty after they had lodged in the guest house and raped her while he also robbed the victim of her phones, money and gold chain.
Luck however ran out of the convict when the victim met him a year after the incident, invited him to her “supposed birthday party” and got him arrested.
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Four witnesses and three exhibits were tendered by the prosecution during the trial.
Though the convict had pleaded not guilty to the offence, claiming the sexual act was a consensual agreement between him and the victim, however, the judge, in her judgement, described the convict as a “pathological liar” noting that the prosecution proved the charge of defilement against the convict beyond reasonable doubt.
The court thereafter sentenced him to life imprisonment in respect to rape and 21 years jail term for robbery with the sentence to run concurrently.
The court also ordered that his name should be entered in the Sex Offenders Register of the Lagos State government.
Sholadoye, in her judgment, also cautioned female students in tertiary institutions to be very discerning in giving out their numbers to strangers.
” What manner of a woman is the victim herself? She should desist from giving out her numbers for unnecessary frolicking,” the court warned.
