Ridwan Adebayo
A 20-year-old fashion designer (name withheld) on Monday told an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court how she was sexually abused and defiled by four neighbours on several occasions over a seven-year period at Papa Ajao area of Mushin, Lagos State.
Two of the neighbours; Taofeeq Alabi, 49, a driver and Igwe Andrew, a 31-year-old dry cleaner are currently facing trial over a charge of defilement while the other two neighbours; Babatunde Green and Babatunde Andrew are currently at large.
While being led in evidence by Mrs. Arinola Momoh-Ayokanbi, the prosecuting counsel, the complainant while testifying as the first prosecution witness gave a narrative of how each of the two defendants allegedly defiled her.
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“The wife of Taofeeq Alabi, the first defendant is a fashion designer and I usually go to their apartment upstairs to watch and learn while she sew clothes for her clients.
“One day, her husband asked me to come to their apartment that he wanted to send me on an errand, when I got into the apartment, he gave me a powder to lick and told me that he has put something (black magic) in my body that even though I get married, it will still be there.
“I became very scared, he removed my clothes and had sexual intercourse with me. I did not tell anyone about what happened because of fear and I was also afraid of how my parents might react if I told them,” she said.
She continued by narrating how, Andrew, the second defendant allegedly defiled her, she said he committed the offence in her bedroom at her residence.
“I was fast asleep in my bedroom and I had forgotten to lock the door, Andrew came into my bedroom and lay on top of me.
“When I woke up and asked why he was in my room, he asked me to shut up and he told me that he wanted to have sexual intercourse with me.
“I tried unsuccessfully to push him away and he forcefully defiled me. After it happened, my younger brother came into the bedroom, saw him there and beat him with a stick while telling him to get out of the room.
“The next day, he approached me and told me he wanted me to do something for him when I asked what it was, he proceeded to show me a blue film (pornography) on his phone.
“I immediately ignored him and since that day, I have been avoiding him,” she said.
The complainant said both defendants defiled her when she was a 14-year-old Senior Secondary School One (SS1) student while the other neighbours (Green and Babatunde) who are on the run, had started defiling her when she was a primary school pupil.
The witness further said she never told her parents about the defilement because she was scared of them until the caretaker of their property disclosed to her father that she was being defiled by the neighbours.
“My father reported the defilement at the Ladipo Police Station. My father and I made a statement at the Police Station and I was referred to the Mirabel Center for medical examination,” she said.
However, Following her evidence, the defence counsel, Mr K. U Ani, requested for an adjournment of the cross-examination of the witness on the grounds of his (Ani’s) ill health.
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Obliging the defence counsel, Justice Abiola Soladoye adjourned the case until February 2, 2020 for cross-examination of the complainant.
According to the prosecution, the defendants committed the offences from 2010 to 2017 at the Papa Ajao area of Mushin, Lagos.
“The defendants who have been remanded the correctional facility, defiled the complainant who is their neighbour by having unlawful sexual intercourse with her when she was 14-years-old.
“The offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015 which prescribes a life sentence for anyone convicted of the offence of defilement of a child,” Momoh-Ayokanbi said.
