By Abimbola Ogunnaike
An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Lagos State, on Tuesday, 13 June, 2023 sentenced a 45-year-old businessman, Emeka Orisakwe, to three life sentences for defiling his three underage female children.
The victims’ ages were said to be eight, eight and six.
Justice Abiola Soladoye in her ruling said that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt the three-count charge bordering on sexual assault by penetration against the defendant.
“You are wicked and a pathological liar. This is most bizarre and unfortunate,” she said, adding that the defendant said his wife was mentally unstable in order to deny the offence.
She also berated the immediate younger sister of the defendant, who testified as the first defence witness (DW1), for tendering a medical report concerning the mental state of the defendant’s wife which did not correlate with the timing of the incident.
The judge also said DW1’s evidence was unreliable as it was a pack of lies tainted by deception after she had corrupted the minds of the victims to lie before the court.
“The children were very honest but I observed the three children that came to testify and this court could see that their aunt, whom they stayed with after the incident, had been working on their brains to tell lies before this court.
“The children’s subsequent denial in court after they made statements at the Satellite Police Station that their father messed around their vaginas with his fingers is an afterthought and very unfortunate.
“The children were taken away from the custody of their mother and the sister-in-law painted lies in their minds. This court cannot be fooled. The DW1 is a liar and a wicked sister-in-law, whose evidence is self-serving to save her brother from drowning.
“The medical report on the mental state of the defendant’s wife which she tendered before this court was dated February 2, 2023, but the sexual incident occurred years back and in desperation, they went to cook up a medical report from Imo State that the defendant’s wife is mentally unstable,” Soladoye said
According to the judge, the attempts of DW1 and the defendant were to get through the back door when they could not get through the front door as the medical reports on the victims revealed blunt forceful penetration, NAN reports.
“The medical reports which were carried out on the three children and admitted into evidence before this court showed bruises on the inner surface, blunt and forceful penetration of the victims’ vaginas.
“The medical examination revealed that the three children suffered various degrees of bruises from the sexual assault perpetrated by their biological father.
“This corroborates the statement of the victims at the police station and the evidence given by the second prosecution witness (PW2), an officer from a child advocacy agency that the brother of the victims, told him that he once saw his father, fingering his sister,” Soladoye said,
The judge thereby convicted the defendant of the three-count charge and subsequently sentenced him to life imprisonment on each of the counts.
She, however, held that the sentencing should run concurrently.
The judge also ordered that the convict should have his name registered in the sexual offences register as maintained by Lagos State.
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