A bus driver who sexually assaulted a septuagenarian by penetrating into her vagina forcefully, Jelili Lawal, has been remanded at the Kirikiri Prisons on the orders of an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi, ordered the bus driver to be remanded in prison, pending the legal advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Osunsanmi adjourned the case until Feb. 18 for hearing.
The accused, a resident of 16, Lagos St., Agege, Lagos, was docked for rape.
The Prosecutor, Insp. Raphael Donny, told the court that the offence was committed on Jan. 1 at 9.00p.m at Oloti Village, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja.
Donny said that the accused unlawfully assaulted the 78-year-old woman sexually.
He told the court that the incident was reported by a resident in the area, who was alerted by the cries of the victim and immediately informed the police who caught the accused in the act.
The accused, who was arrested by men of the Lagos State Police Command, however, denied committing the offence.
Donny said the offence contravened Section 261 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Section prescribes life sentence for any offender upon conviction.
NAN also reports that Mr Edgal Imohimi, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, had earlier paraded the suspect.
Imohimi said that the victim, who was going to her residence in Ketu area of Lagos, was said to have missed her way before the accused offered her a ride.
“The victim, who was delighted at Lawal’s offer, never suspected that he had ulterior motives; he drove her to another location to perpetuate the crime.
“The woman’s cry for help alerted a resident, who informed the police and came to rescue her and arrested Lawal.
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Imohimi said: “On Jan. 1, 2019, around 8.00p.m, a woman, 78, met Jelili Lawal, at Maryland and told him that she had missed her way and did not know how to get to her house in Ketu.
“Jelili Lawal offered to help her. The woman was delighted and she boarded the bus, unknown to her that Lawal had other intentions.
“The Bus driver drove the victim to a location in Oloti Village, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, and raped her without regards to her age.
“While the suspect was at it, the woman let out a cry that attracted someone in the neighbourhood, who quickly called the police and directed them to the location where the cry emanated from.
“That was how the police caught the suspect in the act and rescued the old woman, who was already bleeding from her private parts, as a result of the assault on her dignity,” Imohimi said.
NAN
