Bricklayer sentenced to life in prison for raping teenage girl

Justice Abiola Soladoye of the Ikeja Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence Court on Wednesday sentenced Gabriel Away, a bricklayer, to life imprisonment for defiling a 13-year-old girl in his room.

The judge concluded that the prosecution was able to prove the elements of the two charges against the convict: “blasphemy and sexual assault”.
Judge Soladoye ruled that Away, because of his brazen sexual recklessness, was unfit for the community of civilized people and should be imprisoned for life.
In Wednesday’s sentencing, she said her survivors were clear and unequivocal in her court testimony.

The judge further explained that the survivor’s statement was corroborated by the statements of other prosecution witnesses.

“One prosecution witness (the survivor) testified in court that she was with her grandmother when her friend Lofiat told her that her sister was coming to pick her up. , said that when he arrived at the scene, he did not see his sister, but saw an inmate who had pushed her down onto a mat and sodomized her.

“In this court’s view, the prosecution witnesses made truthful statements and the evidence corroborated them,” she said. Ta.

Judge Soladoye said that after carefully considering the evidence presented to the court, he found Awei guilty of two counts of corruption and sexual assault.

“The survivor has identified Away as the man who defiled her when she was 13 years old.

“Away is hereby found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on each of the two counts. His name should be entered in the Lagos State Sex Offenses Registry,” the judge ruled.

During the trial, the prosecution called three witnesses, but the convicted man testified as the only witness in the case.

The state prosecutor, Mrs. Abimbola Abolade, said the convict committed the crime on June 2, 2021.

She said the incident took place at Agbaye Street, Agbado Oke Odo Area Command, Lagos State.

The convict was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the two charges brought against him by the state. According to the prosecutor, the crime committed violated sections 127 and 261 of the 2015 Lagos State Penal Code.