The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court located at the sprawling Ikeja High Court was filled to the brim as friends, relatives, and sympathisers thronged Justice Rahman Oshodi’s court to hear the sentencing of the convict. Intermittently, women would clap their hands to the bizarre event of January 2, 2019, when the defendant met the victim.
According to a court document sighted by the Crime and Punishment, the defendant, Jelili Moshood, a butcher, met the victim (name withheld and now deceased), a 78-year-old woman in Maryland, Lagos, on January 2, 2019. She had dementia and could not find her way home. The defendant offered to assist her as it turned out it was a deliberate attempt to molest her sexually. The defendant took the woman to a secluded area and raped her. Some Good Samaritans heard her cry and mobilised to rescue her. To get justice, the victim was taken to the police station, and it was confirmed that she was bleeding in her private parts and had bruises on her face. She was later taken to Mirabel Medical Centre for examination. The medical result was received as exhibit F in evidence, which documents physical trauma and forceful penetration of the victim’s vagina.
Thus, the defendant was charged to court. He was subsequently sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment “for attempting to rape” a vulnerable 78-year-old suffering from dementia.
Justice Rahman Oshodi sentenced the defendant, following his plea bargain agreement, to the one-count charge of attempted sexual assault by penetration.
Oshodi, in his judgment, held that he had considered the facts of the case, the plea bargain agreement reached between the prosecution and defence, and the convict’s guilty plea to the amended charge of attempt to commit sexual assault by penetration.
The court, therefore, convicted Moshood and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment as agreed in the plea bargain to commence on the date of his remand.
According to the judge, the facts established in the case were that the convict, under the guise of helping, isolated the vulnerable 78-year-old woman suffering from dementia and proceeded to assault her, causing her physical injury and trauma sexually.
He said: “This predatory and depraved conduct shocks the conscience and warrants strong condemnation and a lengthy custodial sentence.
“The victim impact has been severe though the victim has since passed away, one can only imagine the fear, anguish and suffering inflicted upon her in the final months of her life by the convict’s heinous actions.
“Her family will have to live with that painful reality, and this sentence considers the convict’s guilty plea and the sparing of the victim’s family from the ordeal of testifying in court. However, it must also send a clear deterrent message that sexual violence against society’s most vulnerable will be met with severe consequences.”
Oshodi said the 14-year sentence reflected the egregious breach of trust, the physical and emotional harm caused and the need to protect the public from the convict, who would be registered as a sex offender.
“Jelili Moshood, this court hopes that during your lengthy imprisonment, you will have occasion to reflect deeply on your actions and emerge with genuine remorse and rehabilitation,” the judge stated.
The court held that the preceding factual matrix was distilled from the testimonies of ASP Babatunde Asifat, prosecution witness (PW1), and Insp Olakunle Orebe, prosecution witness (PW2), and the defendant’s confessional statement (Exhibit B1).
The court also held that the extensive cross-examination by the learned defence counsel did not uncover any contradictions in PW1’s evidence.
The judge said instead, it strengthened it.
“Seeing the strong evidence against him and after PW2 had given his evidence-in-chief, the defendant applied to the honourable attorney general of Lagos State for a plea bargain through his counsel, Mr Yusuf Oyebanji,” the court held.
The state counsel, Ms Bukola Okeowo, informed the court on May 31 that the parties had entered a plea and sentence agreement dated and filed on May 30.
The convict’s charge was thereafter changed from rape to attempt to commit sexual assault by penetration, which contravened Section 262 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015. The Lagos government had initially charged the convict with rape, which the medical report and the result of the medical examination were received in evidence as
Exhibit F, which documented physical trauma and forceful penetration of the victim’s vagina.
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