A 65-years-old man, Ambrose Igwe was Monday handed a double life sentence by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for inserting his fingers into the private parts of his tenant’s children aged seven and 11.
Justice Abiola Soladoye held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt the four-count charge bordering on sexual assault by penetration and indecent treatment of a child against Mr Ambrose.
Ms Soladoye said that the defendant was a dirty old man who fingered and touched the breasts of the survivors under the pretext of helping them with their school homework.
She said that the defendant was identified and the evidence of the survivors exposed him as a bare-faced liar, untruthful and lacking in merit.
“The children decided to open up to their mother, who then informed her husband; he thereafter confronted the defendant, and the matter was reported to a police station. The police visited the scene, and the defendant was invited to the police station, where he denied the allegations against him. The testimonies of the prosecution witnesses (survivors) were credible, as they could not consent to being fingered by the landlord.
“The defendant was identified as the assailant, and their evidence was corroborated by their mother and the Investigating Police Officer who visited the crime scene, and a clear account of the assault and indecent treatment was confirmed,” she said.
The judge, thereafter, convicted the defendant of the four-count charge levelled against him, contrary to Sections 135 and 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
“Counts one and two carry life imprisonment each; the defendant is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment on each of the count charges.
“In respect to counts three and four, which carry a seven-year jail term, the defendant is hereby sentenced to seven years imprisonment on each of the count charges.
“His name is to be entered in the Sexual Offences Register maintained by the Lagos State Government,” Ms Soladoye said.
The state Counsel, Olufunke Adegoke, called four witnesses: two survivors, the mother of the survivors, and IPO, through whom five exhibits were tendered.
The convict testified for himself. The prosecution submitted that the convict committed the offences between January and June 2021 at Shagari Estate, Ipaja, Lagos. NAN
