Man Bags Life Sentence For Raping 85-Year-Old Woman In Ekiti

An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado Ekiti has sentenced one Durodola Ogundele to life imprisonment for raping an 85-year-old woman.

Ogundele was charged to court by the police and was charged with one count of rape.

The court was told that Ogundele had on June 15, 2021 raped the 85-year old woman (name withheld) at Ayetoro Ekiti in the Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State, which is within the jurisdiction of the court.

The prosecutor, Folasade Alli, told the court that, “The offence is contrary to Section 2 of the Ekiti State Gender Based Violence (Prohibition) Law, 2019.”

In her testimony before the court, the victim’s daughter ( name withheld) said, “My mum told me that the defendant did not allow her to sleep. She said the defendant came to her room around 1am, rubbed a balm all over her body, including her anus and vagina, massaged her body, sucked her breasts and forcibly had sex with her.

“When I tried to find out from the defendant, he said, my mother must have been dreaming.

“The matter was first reported at Ido Ekiti Police Station before it was transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigerian Police Force, Ado Ekiti,” she said.

The prosecutor, who called five witnesses including the Investigating Police Officer and a medical doctor, tendered the victims’ statement, defendants’ statement, and a medical report from Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti among others, as exhibits.

The defendant, who spoke in his own defence through his counsel, called no witnesses.

Justice Monisola Abodunde held that the prosecution established “through cogent circumstantial evidence that the defendant intentionally and calculatedly penetrated the vagina and anus of the victim with his penis after rubbing a dark balm on her body and private parts

“The defendant is found guilty as charged for rape contrary to Section 2 of the Ekiti State Gender Based Violence (Prohibition Law) 2019 and he is convicted, and accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment in line with the Section 2 (2) of Ekiti State Gender- Based Violence (Prohibition Law) 2019.”