Father Gets Life Sentence in Jail for Sexually Abusing his Children
Justice Abiola Soladoye of the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, on Monday, handed down a life imprisonment sentence to Ademola Oladimeji, a father convicted of sexually assaulting his three children, aged five, seven, and nine.
In her verdict, the judge affirmed the credibility and truthfulness of the prosecution witnesses’ testimony.
Justice Soladoye emphasized that the evidence presented established the crime as sexual assault by penetration, distinguishing it from defilement.
The judge noted that the accounts of the three survivors were supported by both the investigative police officer and their mother, providing further corroboration to the case.
She said: “Upon a careful review of the evidence before the court, the children did not say their father inserted his penis into their ‘bum bum’; they only said he touched their ‘bum bum’.
“I observed the three of them. They did not lie against their father, they did not say he used his penis, he only used his fingers.
“The children gave unshaken testimonies on how their father fiddled with their innocence multiple times by inserting his fingers into their vaginas.
“The wife of the defendant, in her testimony, said the children complained of pain in their private parts and she was informed at the Mirabel Medical Centre that the children had been sexually assaulted.”
The judge further said that the convict was desperate to distance himself from the allegation by denying the offences.
“To the mind of this court, I do not believe his narration; though he denied fiddling with his daughters, his testimony did not add up.
“His narration shows how desperate he is to get out of the charge against his children.
“The court holds that there was penetration as oral and documentary evidence before the court pointed to the fact that the convict messed around with the purity of his three children,” the judge concluded.
Soladoye expressed strong disapproval of the convict’s behavior, describing it as despicable, morally corrupt, incestuous, and contrary to the natural order. Despite the prosecution’s failure to establish the three counts related to defilement, the judge revised the charges to sexual assault by penetration and subsequently found the individual guilty on each count.
Oladimeji was also convicted on a fourth count of sexual assault by penetration, leading to a life imprisonment sentence for each count. The judge specified that these sentences would run concurrently.
In addition, Soladoye mandated the registration of the convict’s name in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.
During the proceedings, the state counsel, Mrs. Olufunke Adegoke, presented five witnesses to substantiate the case against the convict, while the convict himself testified as the sole witness in his defense.
(PUNCH)
