An Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division on Tuesday sentenced a 24-year-old man, Sunday Asere, to 14 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl.

Asere was arraigned on March 22, 2022, on one count of rape.

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The charge read, “The defendant sometime in January 2020 at Moferere in Ado Ekiti, did rape a six-year-old girl.

“The offence is contrary to Section 31(2) of the Child’s Rights Law, Cap. C7, Laws of Ekiti State of Nigeria, 2012,” it stated.

The six-year-old girl, who said she was a primary one pupil at that time, said the defendant, who was her mother’s neighbour, was fond of fondling her private parts whenever her mother was not around.

The girl had said that although she felt pain whenever the defendant fondled her private parts, she could not tell her mother because of her harshness.

She, however, said she relayed everything to her father when he came to visit her at school on January 14, 2020, a day after the defendant violated her again, following which the father reported the matter at the police station.

The prosecutor, Kunle-Shina Adeyemo, called six witnesses and tendered statements of the defendant and medical report as exhibits.

The defendant, who spoke in his own defence through his counsel, Adedayo Adewumi, did not call any witness.

In his judgment, Justice Adekunle Adeleye, said that the findings upon medical examination, revealed likely sexual abuse, but no evidence of penetration of the vagina.

Adeleye stated that from the circumstances, the prosecution was able to establish sexual assault, adding, “The defendant is liable for imprisonment for a term of 14 years.

“Accordingly, the defendant is hereby sentenced to imprisonment for 14 years”, the judge pronounced.