An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, on Monday remanded a 35-year-old bus conductor, Chidi Opara, who allegedly raped a five-year-old minor in Lagos.
He was remanded at Kirikiri Prisons by the court.
Refusing to take the plea of the accused, the Magistrate, B.O Osunsanmi, said he should be kept behind bars pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Mr Opara, who resides at Iyana- Iba, Lagos, is being tried for defilement.
The police prosecutor, Ezekiel Ayorinde, told the court that the accused committed the offence on June 10 at Iba area of Lagos.
He said that the accused unlawfully had carnal knowledge of the juvenile.
“The accused visited the brother of the girl in his absence. He called the girl into her brother’s room, removed her pant and had sexual intercourse with her,” the prosecutor said.
Mr Ayorinde said that the mother of girl noticed the way her daughter was walking and she questioned her.
“When the girl entered her mother’s room, she discovered that her daughter was not walking properly and also noticed blood and sperm gushing out of her private parts.
“The girl told her mother what the accused did to her, her mother raised alarm, on hearing the voice of the girl’s mother, the accused ran out of the room.
“The mother ran after him shouting, people on the street gave the accused a hot chase and he was apprehended and handed over to the police,” the prosecutor said.
The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the section prescribes life jail imprisonment for defilement.
The case was adjourned until July 17 for mention.(NAN)
