Man Bags 20 Years Jail Term For Raping Minor

For repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl over three months and causing her urinary incontinence, a middle-aged man, Dennis Okubiat, has been convicted and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja.

On Wednesday, 24th March 2024, Justice Ismail Ijelu held that the victim had testified that she went for evangelism and, in the process, went to check on the convict, who had not been coming to church after her Church’s Pastor said they should visit members who have not been seen in church for some time.

According to the Judge, the minor testified that because of her respect for Okubiat as an elder of their church, she was in his house to check on him and then helped him wash plates and clean his house.

Further testifying that after she was done, the convict offered her Garri because she loved Garri so much, the Court heard the victim’s testimony thus; “So, he gave me Garri and groundnut to drink, and I slept off. When I woke up, I saw a white substance in my private part, and I woke Okubiat up and asked him what happened to me; he said if I told anybody, he would kill me.

“He did it several times for three months, and on September 6, 2021, he came to my house and said we should do it; I said I don’t know what you have been doing to me, so he started shouting and calling me to come and do it; that was how our neighbours heard and caught him.

“After he raped me, whenever I sit down, my private part is always itching me, and it makes me look like a mad girl in the street. When I wake up in the morning, I’m always wet, but during the day, I can control myself. This never happened to me before Okubiat raped me; I always woke up by myself at night to urinate, but after the rape, I’m not able to control myself, especially at night”.

Justice Ijelu also stated that when the victim was cross-examined by the defence counsel M. O. Kareem about the white substance she saw on her private part, she repeated that the convict said if she told anybody, he would kill her and told her that the Pastor of their church was a wicked man who did not care about anybody, saying that was why he stopped going to the church.

The judge further held that Okubiat didn’t deny the victim’s testimony, nor did he challenge it. He said he knew the girl and that she was a 12-year-old child.

In his defence, Okubiat said the victim came to his house because her mother was working in a hotel and she abandoned the victim and her other siblings, and that he used to give the victim and her sisters food whenever they said they were hungry.

He also testified that he had known the victim’s family since the time they came into the community.

A nurse, Oluchi Nwoke-Okoi, a staff of the Women At Risk Foundation, had also testified during the trial that the victim was brought to their office on September 14, 2021, by her relatives on account of the sexual defilement of a minor.

In her account, Nwoke-Okoi said the victim told them at the Foundation that when she entered his (the accused) house, he offered her garri and groundnut, and after she took two spoons, she became drowsy and slept off.

“She mentioned that when she woke up, she found herself naked and saw sperm on her body, and the perpetrator threatened her not to tell anybody.

“She said he sexually assaulted her several times in June, July, and August 2021, but that he only raped her once on September 6, 2021, before he was arrested,” the witness said.

Nwoke-Okoi further informed the Court that it was Dr Yejide Okungbaye who examined the victim, while she witnessed the process after which the medical report was issued to the police that referred the case to her organisation

She said that in the report that there were mild bruises around the urethra of the vagina, adding; “There was redness in the labia; the hymen membrane was not intact, and with that report on the vagina, we found that there was blunt force penetration.”

In his judgment, Justice Ijelu held that the Court accepts the entirety of the victim’s evidence as it corroborates with that of the medical report, adding that the prosecution led by the state counsel Babatunde Sunmonu proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“I accept the entirety of this evidence, and the defence tried to discredit it. The court finds that this piece of evidence by PW 2 (victim) unequivocally proved the ingredients of the offence of defilement of a child. The act of Okubiat was pre-meditated. The victim was vulnerable, and he took advantage of her.

“The court finds that the act of the convict harmed the victim as it has caused her extreme psychological impact and social impact,” the judge said, and further pronounced thus; “Okubiat is hereby sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, to run from the day he was arrested and remanded,”