Lagos State High Court in Ikeja on Thursday sentenced a motorcyclist, popularly known as Okada, Monday Olukunle (alias Seaman), to seven years imprisonment for abducting a 16-year-old girl.
Justice Oyindamola Ogala who handed down the verdict convicted Olukunle of the charge of conspiracy and abduction.
She, however, discharged him of the charge of defilement due to lack of evidence beyond reasonable doubt.
Ogala held that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the charge of defilement as the key witnesses were not in court to testify.
She said the court relied on the confessional statement of the convict to find him guilty of conspiracy and abduction.
The judge said: “The alleged victim did not testify or identify the convict.
“It is instructive that neither the persons who arrested the Olukunle, the alleged friend nor the chairman of the estate testified in respect of the charge of defilement linking the convict with the direct act.
“These witnesses are vital in establishing the guilt of the convict.
“This Honourable Court, therefore, finds that the prosecution failed to satisfy that Olukunle indeed defiled the said victim.”
The court further held that the evidence of Prosecution Witnesses Two and Three sufficiently corroborated the fact of the confession of the convict.
Ogala said the attempt to dissociate him from the entirety of the events of the incident was an afterthought and did not hold much weight in view of the facts before the court.
The judge ordered that the convict’s term commence from the date of remand, which is September 30, 2022, and shall be concurrent.
During the trial, the prosecution called three witnesses who were a medical doctor, Nnani Nkechi; Mordi David and Police Inspector Yemi Amoo, while the convict solely defended himself.
According to the three counts preferred against the convict, the police alleged that Monday Olukunle A.K.A Seaman and another (now at large) connived to commit the offences.
The incident occurred on September 30 2022 at Ralitu Daramola Street, Abogunleko, Ikotun area of the state.
The convict and his accomplice were said to have abducted the victim and took her to an uncompleted building to gang-rape her.
