According to the Police, the incident happened on Wale Azeez Street, Ajasa, Lagos State.
Punch reports:
The magistrate, Ms S.O Solebo, called the
victim’s mother and her stepmother to court to give an account of how
the event unfolded.
The victim’s mother, who did not disclose her name in court, said she had separated from Ajao and had remarried.
She said, “After our separation, I took
my daughter to live with my mother. But in October, 2013, he went to my
mother’s house and took her from there.
“It was from that time that he started pressuring the girl before sleeping with her and impregnating her.”
Ajao’s new wife, who was nursing a baby, said she was not aware of the incident until the matter got to the police.
“It was in October last year that he
brought the girl to be staying with us. While I slept in the room, she
stayed in the parlour and I didn’t know anything was going on,” she
said.
The magistrate became angry when the
victim’s mother told the court she had taken her daughter back to the
grandmother, adding, “My sisters will take care of her ante-natal.”
Solebo said, “You sound so irresponsible.
She is your own child and you are saying your sisters will take her for
ante-natal care at her grandmother’s place. If they had exercised due
diligence and care, maybe she would not have been taken away by her
father.”
The magistrate thereafter called the Office of the Public Defender for custody of the girl.
“She is 14 and she is pregnant. Her body
is not developed to carry the pregnancy. I am very interested in how the
girl fares,” she added.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Richard
Odige told the court that the crime was punishable under sections
135(1)(2) and 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
Odige thereafter applied that the matter be transferred to the Directorate of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
However, the defence counsel, Ola Ogunbiyi, pleaded with the court to admit Ajao to bail in liberal terms.
Ogunbiyi said Ajao had emaciated because he had been in detention for a long time.
Reacting, Solebo said, “The punishment
for the offence is life imprisonment. Already, a medical report from the
Lagos State University Teaching Hospital has indicated that she was
pregnant as of November, 2013. The police, who investigated the matter
said she was pregnant for her father. So, what do you want me to do?
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