The Ondo State High Court in Akure has condemned to death by hanging one Dare Ojo, who raped and murdered an 11-year-old girl, Zainab Adeyemo, along Ese/Irun-Akoko Road, Akoko North-East Local Government Area of the state.
The prosecution said Mr Ojo committed the offences on 17 July 2020, while conveying the deceased on his commercial motorcycle to the market at Irun-Akoko.
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During the proceedings, the mother of the deceased narrated how the incident happened, saying she had called the defendant, who was a commercial motorcycle rider, popularly known as Okada, to take the late Zainab Adeyemo from Ese-Akoko to the market at Irun-Akoko.
But when she didn’t see Zainab, she contacted her colleagues at the market only to be told that they didn’t see her.
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The victim’s parents were said to have contacted Mr Ojo, who took her away on his motorcycle, but he told them that he had dropped her off at the market.
A search party was therefore set up in the community, which eventually found Zainab’s dead body.
Handing down his verdict, the judge, Yemi Fasanmi, said that the accused was guilty of the charges based on findings of the pathologist from Federal Medical Centre, Owo, who carried out tests on the remains of the deceased.
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He said the pathologist established that there was a struggle and the vagina of the deceased was forcefully penetrated.
Besides, the police investigator also told the court that the accused led him and some police to the scene of the incident in a bush.
The presiding judge, though admitting there was no witness account, relied on the Doctrine of Last Seen.
According to him, Mr Ojo was the last person who saw Zainab, as there was no other person who saw her after the accused took her away.
Kolawole Oluiwa, the counsel to the defendant, appealed to the court to be lenient with the accused.
When allowed to talk to the court, the defendant pleaded for mercy.
However, the court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment, having found him guilty of the first charge, rape, punishable under section 31(1), (2), and (3) of the Ondo State Child’s Right Law, 2007.
The court also sentenced the accused to death by hanging, having been found guilty of the murder punishable under section 319(1) of the Criminal Code Cap 37, vol. 1, Laws of Ondo, 2006.
Speaking after the judgement, the defendant’s attorney appreciated the diligence of the court.
Speaking with journalists after the sitting, the prosecution attorney, Afolabi Bolanle, who is a director in the state Ministry of Justice, and the Administrative Secretary, Ondo State Agency Against Gender Based Violence(OSA-GBV), said all parties to the matter got justice.
“This is a case of murder and rape. The accused was charged for a case of having sexual intercourse with a child, which is contrary to section 31, 1, subsection 1, subsection 2, and 3 of the child’s right law, year 2007, as well as a murder, contrary to section 316, and punishable under section 319 of the criminal code, chapter 27 of the state law, 2006. The case was initially filed in 2020,” she said.
“Then there was also an amendment later to the charges, and further amendments. So the case was eventually opened in 2023, and it continued until today, when the judgment was given by the court.
“The prosecution called six witnesses, while the defendants gave evidence without calling any witnesses.
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“So at the end of the day, he was found guilty of counts one and two. Count one is rape, and count two is murder. And the court sentenced him to life imprisonment for rape and to death for count two, which is murder.
“So we thank God. It’s a great relief. We have seen the end of the case today. Judgement has been served. There’s judgement for the deceased. Unfortunately, the victim is late, she’s dead, by the act of the defendant. But today, she got judgment.
“There is also judgement for the families of the deceased, and there is judgement for the state, because judgment is in three ways. So the state, the victim, the family, even the defendant, too.”
Shr commended the prosecutor, the legal officer, and the director of legal services in the Agency Against Gender-Based Violence, John Joshua, who prosecuted this case from the beginning to the end.
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