By Temitope Hassan
An Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos has sentenced a 45-year-old ‘pastor’, Ndukwe Ogbu, to 25 years in prison for raping his 14-year-old daughter.
Delivering judgment, the trial judge, Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe, held that the convict was guilty of the three-count charge preferred against him by the Lagos State Government.
The judge also held that the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt the three-count charge of defilement, sexual assault, and sexual assault by penetration against him.
Justice Abike-Fadipe also noted that Ogbu showed no remorse for the crime during his trial.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court dismissed Ogbu’s denials, with medical and social worker testimonies aligning with his daughter’s account.(NAN).
“Based on the evidence presented before the court, the defendant is found guilty on all three counts.
“He is sentenced to three years on count one. On counts two and three, he is sentenced to 25 years each.
“The sentences shall run concurrently, and will be effective from Dec. 2019, when he was remanded in custody,” the judge ordered.
According to the court, the prosecution had presented a watertight case with undeniable evidence against the convict.
The court further held that Ogbu’s plea for the court to temper justice with mercy because he had other children to cater for, was hollow and fell flat, citing his lack of remorse.
During trial, the victim/survivor, (name withheld), who identified Ogbu in the courtroom as her father, narrated her harrowing experience.
She recounted how the abuse began when she was aged 14, with her father subjecting her to repeated sexual assaults and threatening her into silence.
The teenager told the court that her father had had sexual intercourse with her on several occasions and threatened her not to tell anybody.
Ogbu was arrested and detained in Dec. 2019, was formally arraigned in Feb. 2021, and the trial officially kicked off on Oct. 18, 2021.
During trial, the prosecution called three witnesses and tendered exhibits, while the convict testified as the sole defence witness.
In her testimony, the survivor told the court that her father had sexual intercourse with her on several occasions and threatened her not to tell anybody.
She, however, said that when she could no longer endure the relentless abuse, she later took the courage to confide in her schoolteacher, who reported the case to a social worker.
The convict, however, initially denied all the claims and maintained that he was not at home as claimed by his daughter.
He claimed that he lived in the same apartment with his daughter but that she had her own separate room.
Ogbu also told the court that he lost his wife when the children were young, and the other children lived in the village with their maternal grandmother.(NAN).
