The Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced a 27-year-old cleaner, Saviour Udoh, to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl on a church premises. Justice Ramon Oshodi held that the prosecution was able to prove the offence of defilement against the convict without reasonable doubt, stating that Udoh's action was reprehensible and deserving of the maximum punishment under the law.
Udoh was arraigned on February 5, 2020, on a count of sexual assault by penetration preferred against him by the state, to which he pleaded not guilty. The court heard that the incident occurred on December 12, 2018, on the premises of a prominent Pentecostal church in Ikeja, Lagos, where Udoh worked as a cleaner. He approached the sleeping child in the children's department and sexually assaulted her.
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In his judgment, Justice Oshodi acknowledged the long-lasting physical and emotional trauma inflicted upon the child, stating that the victim's mother testified that she was still taking the victim to the hospital three years after the incident and that the victim was still having discharges. The judge emphasized that the victim trusted Udoh, and her mother entrusted her in his care, but he breached that trust by sexually assaulting the child.
Justice Oshodi convicted the defendant on the one-count charge of sexual assault by penetration and sentenced him to life imprisonment, ordering that his name should be registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register. The judge stated that the aggravating factors outweighed any other circumstance, and the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment under Section 261 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, was appropriate for Udoh's reprehensible actions.
