Man Arraigned for Allegedly Raping Teenager, Shaving Her Pubic Hair
Funke Olaode
A man, Lukman Alade, has been arraigned before the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for raping an 18-year-old girl.
Alade is standing trial on a two-count charge of rape and sexual assault by penetration.
DSP Morayo Ogunsokan, the investigative police officer, told the court how Alade allegedly made incisions on the girl’s private parts.
Ogunsokan told Justice Rahman Oshodi while being led in evidence by the state counsel, Ms Bukola Okeowo, that she received a report of alleged rape on September 12, 2022 at about 4:30 p.m. from the teenager.
According to the cop, the alleged victim said the defendant allegedly raped her on September 11, 2022, about 4:40 p.m. after she rejected his advances.
“The survivor told me that she was on her way to collect her phone when she was accosted by the defendant, and he made sexual advances towards her, but she rebuffed him. She said she later found herself in the room of the defendant with her pants removed, her pubic hair shaved, and the defendant had put incisions on her vagina and legs,” the officer told the court.
The teenager added that the defendant put a ring on his finger, inserted it into her vagina and raped her, according to the IPO’s testimony.
“She said it was when her phone rang that she became conscious of what was going on, and she asked the defendant what she was doing in his house,” said Ogunsokan.
In her testimony, the policewoman told the court that Alade gave the teenager the shaved pubic hair upon her request. Afterwards, the girl told her parents about the incident.
Subsequently, Alade was arrested by the police after being prompted by a vigilance group in the area.
The IPO told the court that the defendant confessed to removing the girl’s pants, shaving her pubic hair and putting incisions on her vagina and legs.
“Based on what was reported and what the defendant said, he accepted shaving the pubic hair, giving her incisions, and the lady said he slept with her. I am not a medical practitioner, that was why I sent her to Mirabel Medical Centre for examination,” said the policewoman. “After the result at Mirabel, the defendant was charged to court based on the allegation against him.”
The state counsel asked the court for an adjournment so that the witness could conclude her examination in chief, submitting that the original case file was not with the prosecution.
There was no objection from the defence counsel, Mr Lekan Egberongbe.
CMB Management of Pearl Gardens Estate not in Dispute, Court Rules
A Lagos High Court has ruled that the management and administration of Pearl Gardens Estate, Sangotedo, Lagos Estate, by CMB Building Maintenance and Investments Limited is not in dispute.
In a ruling on the case of CMB Building Maintenance & Investments Company vs Felix Obiakor and Residents Association of Pearl Gardens, in which CMB applied by way of originating summons for a consequential order to take over as the sole management of Pearl Gardens, Justice Olubukola Aigbokhaevbo said the issue was the manner of management.
The court also dismissed the residents’ association’s counter-claims. It held that the association’s counter-affidavit was not properly filed and that there was no application to regularise it.
It also dismissed Oyetubo Jokotade Estate Resources Limited’s counter-argument that the matter could not be resolved by originating summons.
The judge agreed with CMB’s counsel’s argument that an originating summons could resolve the matter because the claimant was seeking a consequential order based on the judgment delivered by the court presided over by Justice Olokooba on December 1, 2021.
CMB Building Maintenance and Investment Company Limited had, by way of an originating summons, approached the court to give a consequential order to the judgment in favour of CMB on December 1, 2021, by Justice Olokoba in the suit instituted by the Residents Association in 2015 (LD/064GCMW/2015).
The association and Oyetubo Jokotade Estates Resource Limited filed a counter-affidavit to the originating summons through their respective lawyers.
At the hearing of the originating summons, CMB’s counsel objected to the counter-affidavit on the grounds that it was not properly filed and that there was no application to regularise it.
The court agreed with the CMB’s counsel and struck out the counter-affidavit.
The Oyetubo Jokotade Estate raised the issue that the originating summons could not resolve the suit.
However, the claimant’s counsel argued that the suit was one for the court to make a consequential order based on Justice Olokoba’s judgment; as such, the court is to restrict itself to the judgment before it.
The court agreed with the claimant’s counsel that the matter should be resolved by originating summons owing to the claimant’s seeking the instant court to make a consequential order based on the judgement that was delivered in favour of CMB in 2021 against the association.
On the main issue before the court, which is for the court to make a consequential order, the court held that the consequential order has to flow from the relief sought in a matter or incidental to the relief sought.
The court further held that the relief being prayed for by CMB, which is the right to the sole management of Pearl Gardens Estate, was not an issue before Justice Olokoba in the suit filed by the association.
According to the court, the issue before Justice Olokoba was for payment of reticulation fees unilaterally imposed by CMB.
Justice Olubukola Aigbokhaevbo held that the issue of management and administration of the estate was not raised before Justice Olokoba and that neither the claimant nor the defendant in the suit before Justice Olokoba made reference to the issue of management throughout the case.
The judge held that there was no dispute as to the management and administration of the estate. Instead, the issue before Olokoba was how CMB managed the estate, which resulted in litigation.
The court held that it could not make an order granting a relief that was not sought, as CMB never filed a counter-claim in the suit before Justice Olokoba filed by the residents’ association.
Online Dating Scam: Court Sentenced Undergraduate to 18 Months’ Imprisonment
Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Ikeja Special Offences Court yesterday sentenced Emmanuel Victor, a 100-level computer science part-time student, to 18 months’ imprisonment for an online dating scam.
The convict was, however, given an option of N4 million fine.
Victor, aged 23, had benefitted $7,000 from an online dating scam before his arrest.
The convict pleaded guilty to an amended one-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
EFCC prosecuting counsel Abubakar Dambua, who reviewed the facts of the case, told the court that on September 15, 2023, an intelligence report about the fraudulent activities of the convict and others was received.
He said a raid was carried out, and the convict was arrested. Dambua listed an iPhone 13, a Samsung phone, an ATM card, a manager’s cheque, and fraudulent documents among items recovered from the convict.
Dambua thereafter sought to tender all items recovered from the convict as evidence before the court.
The defence counsel, E.A. Ukpai, did not object to the admissibility of items recovered from the convict.
When the trial judge asked Victor how he committed the fraud, Victor told the court that he created a false Facebook account in the name of ‘Agent Fred Smith’.
“I then asked the unsuspecting victims to apply for Social Economic Grant Programme and I asked them to pay processing and delivery,” said the convict.
Victor told the court he used the $7,000 to assist his family, “We used to stay in a plank house, and l used the money to provide better accommodation and pay for my school fees.”
In her allocutus, Ukpai said the defendant had realised his mistake, become remorseful, and that he was a first-time offender. She pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy and grant him a non-custodial sentence, saying that his mother was not well.
Delivering judgment in the matter, Justice Oshodi said he did not believe that the convict committed the offence out of necessity.
The convict forfeited all items recovered from him to the federal government.
FHA Denies Breaching Court Order Restricting Demolition of 600 Houses at Festac
The Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court on Tuesday fixed May 2 for the hearing of committal to prison against the Federal Housing Authority.
The FHA counsel, Chris Ekemezie, had prayed to the court at the resumption of the trial for the court to strike out forms 48 and 49 filed against his client to give room for hearing of the main application.
However, Justice Akintunde Savage, the presiding judge, disagreed with the prayer.
In his ruling, the judge said there was essential evidence before the court, noting that the evidence was not manufactured by the complainant.
Savage ordered the complainant’s counsel to file his brief.
At the last adjourned date, the FHA denied breaching a court order restricting it from demolishing 600 houses at 6th Avenue, Festac Town, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.
The claimants’ counsel, Adetayo Bello, told the court that he had obtained an injunction against the defendants (FHA and LSBCA). The motion with suit number ID/7396GCM/2023, dated September 7, 2023, was brought before Justice O. J. Awope of the Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court (sitting as a vacation judge at the time) on September 11, 2023.
Accordingly, the judge gave the order after a 40-page affidavit dated Sept. 7, deposed by the fourth defendant, Alhaji R.A. Balogun and Thaddeus Idenyi, for the claimants.
Awope had ordered a pre-emptive injunction restraining the first defendant, whether acting by itself or through its agents, from demolishing and removing any building or property erected in 6th Avenue Festac Town or any other part of Festac Town.