A septuagenarian, Mr. Julius Oyenuga, on Thursday told an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court how his 55-year-old driver, Folarin Rauf, allegedly defiled his five-year-old granddaughter.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Rauf is charged with defilement.
Oyenuga, an insurance practitioner, while being led in evidence by prosecution counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade, testified that the defendant defiled his granddaughter while washing his car at his residence on July 18, 2020.
The witness said he was with an electrician from the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company to fix some cables when the alleged victim and her younger cousin (male) came out of the house and went toward the car.
“The defendant maneuvered the boy to leave, and took my granddaughter into the car.
“I knew what was going on, and my granddaughter came to my room to whisper in my ears.
“She said, ‘Grandpa, I have something to tell you.’
“She told me to bring my ears, that she wanted to whisper something to me.
“She whispered in my ears that the defendant cuddled her to his chest, kissed her, brought out his penis and inserted it into her vagina,” he said.
The witness said that he confronted the defendant the following day.
“I asked him, ‘Mr. Folarin, if you want to marry a new wife, is it my granddaughter you want to marry’?
“He said he only kissed her.
“My daughters and I discussed the issue and we came into conclusion to report the case at the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency in Ikeja.
“My granddaughter told the agency more than what he told me. She made a drawing to show the position of the defendant and her in the car.”
The witness further testified that the agency gave them a letter to Women At Risk International Foundation (WARIF) for a test to be conducted on the child.
“WARIF told us to go to police headquarters in Ikeja because the result could not be given to us.
“The police, in turn, said they could not attend to us because of COVID-19, that we should go to a station close to my house.
“We reported the case at Ojodu Police Station; statements were made and the case was taken to Magistrates Court, Ikeja,” he said.
While responding to questions from defence counsel, Mr. K.O. Mwimo, the witness said the defendant had been his driver for over a year and that one of his daughters usually took the survivor and the cousin to school.
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“If the defendant was to drive the survivor and her cousin to school, one of my daughters would go with them.”
The witness said he was not a doctor and could not make any physical observation when the survivor came to whisper in his ear.
He said the survivor did not cry when she came to meet him in the room but did not look pleased.
Abolade later led in evidence, the third prosecution witness, Mrs Yewande Ngolegi, the mother of the survivor.
“A week after the incident happened, my sister called me and said my daughter told her grandpa that the defendant kissed her.
“I went to Omole and asked her some questions. She made some drawings on phone and showed me.
“The driver said he did not do it but my daughter said it is true that he did it,” Ngolegi testified.c
During cross-examination, the witness said the survivor only told her grandfather that the defendant kissed her but her elder sister later probed more on the alleged incident.
“My elder sister probed her more and she told her that the defendant put his penis in her vagina.
“I also probed her when I got to grandpa’s house and she said the same thing.
“She said she was scared and was not seeing the defendant during the week until one Saturday morning during breakfast,” she said.
Justice Abiola Soladoye adjourned the case until July 6 for continuation of trial. (NAN)
