Justice Abiola Soladoye of the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has convicted and sentenced a 44-year-old man, Oto Edet, to life imprisonment for defiling his neighbour’s nine-year-old daughter.

His name will be registered in the Sexual Offenders Register as maintained by Lagos State.

While delivering the judgment on Tuesday, Justice Soladoye held that the prosecution was able to prove the one-count charge of defilement against Edet.

According to her, the convict exhibits unwholesome conduct by descending so low as to have unlawful sexual intercourse with his neighbour’s daughter.

Justice Soladoye said: “The survivor was lucid in her testimony before this court about how the defendant had unlawful sexual intercourse with her on numerous occasions.”

Justice Soladoye advised parents and guardians to be more vigilant in training their wards and also called on stakeholders in the justice sector to continually preach the gospel of zero tolerance to sexual abuse.

During the trial, the Lagos State prosecution counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade, called three witnesses through whom four exhibits were tendered in evidence against the convict.

“The survivor maintained in her evidence that ‘he had put his penis in my bum bum before and that was when his wife gave birth’ and said she was ordered to go sweep the compound but did not return after a while.”

“She said a search led her mother to the door of the defendant when her pair of slippers was found outside his door, and she was found naked behind the defendant’s door.”

The defence counsel, however, did not call any witnesses but rested on the prosecution’s case.

Abolade told the court that the convict committed the offence between 2020 and 2021 on Solomon Toriola Street, Abaranje, Olorun area of Lagos.

Edet was therefore sentenced to life imprisonment as the offence of defilement contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.