By Felix Kuyinu
A school bus driver has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a three-year-old girl in Okota, Lagos.
Justice Rahman Oshodi sentenced the offender, Micheal Mowete, at the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, Ikeja Lagos on Tuesday.
The State Counsel, Babajide Boye, presented four witnesses during the trial, while the defence also called four witnesses.
The prosecution told the court that the convict committed the offence on two occasions on September 27, 2019, at Okeho Street, Isolo and Lukmon Street, Ago, Okota, Lagos.
The judge affirmed that the prosecution proved that the convict had an unlawful sexual activity with the minor and defiled her.
Justice Oshodi said that the victim’s narration of the ordeal despite her age alongside the mother’s utterances were in accordance with the report of examination had on the survivor.
Oshodi said, “The investigative police officer gave circumstantial evidence in the case. The mother of the prosecutrix, in her evidence, said that on September 27, 2019, the school bus driver dropped her daughter off and her daughter told her, ‘Mummy! mummy! Uncle Michael touched my bum bum and jumped on me.’
“The mother said she thought it was just an ordinary touch until she wanted to bathe her daughter at night, and she started shouting when water touched her private parts.
“Despite the prosecutrix’s age, she demonstrated to the court, repeated how the convict defiled her and said in her evidence, ‘Uncle Michael touched my bum bum and he jumped on me.’
“The defence, in its final written address, argued that the prosecutrix was coached, but the evidence before this court does not show this as the convict in his evidence said that he was alone with the prosecutrix on the day of the incident and this also corroborated the evidence of the mother that on September 27, 2019, the driver solely brought her child home at 6.00 p.m as against the 3.00 p.m. which she usually returned home.
“The medical examination also revealed recently repeated blunt force penetration of the vagina.
The judge added, “Exihibit P6A and P6B indicted the convict as he also confirmed in his extrajudicial statement that he was the only one with the prosecutrix in the school bus on the said date.
“It is evident that Mowete forcefully touched the prosecutrix with his hand and penis.
“The totality of the evidence, prosecutrix evidence, corroborates the mother’s evidence and that of the medical report also, the circumstantial evidence of the police showed that Mowete committed the offence.
“The prosecution has discharged the burden of proof against Mowete, and he is hereby convicted under Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State (2015).”
While sentencing the lawbreaker, Oshodi ordered that his name should be inscribed in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register. He proceeded, “Michael Mowete, this court has found you guilty of the charge of defilement.
“You have defiled a child, barely three years of age. The mother of the child told this court that urine comes out of her daughter’s vagina every 15 to 30 minutes, and this shows how far damage you have done to the child.
“You are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment, and you shall serve the remainder of your term in the Maximum Correctional Centre.”