37 Year Old Driver Jailed 14 Years For Raping An Underage

An Ikeja High Court, on Tuesday sentenced a 37-year-old driver Femi Tonade,to 12-years in prison for defiling the underage housekeeper of his employer who was 14-years-old.

Justice Kudirat Jose, passed the sentence which is lesser than the recommended life imprisonment for the offence, after hearing the plea for mercy of the defence.

“It is easy to plead for people but it is easier for people to offend, you just don’t see a child and decide to have forceful carnal knowledge of her.

“Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos recommends a term of life in prison for the offence of defilement.

“However, after listening to your allocutus, the court is going to be lenient with the defendant and sentence him to 12-years in prison, Justice Jose said.

“The sentence will commence from the first day he was incarcerated.”

Jose, also noted that the evidence of the minor against the defendant was cogent and believable and that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The prosecution team led by Mrs A.B Awosika, had told the court during the trial that that Tonade committed the offence on Dec. 1, 2015 at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos.

“The convict and his employer were outside a block of flats while the complainant was in the building cleaning the upstairs apartment of her employer's brother.

“The convict crept upstairs to the apartment without his employer's knowledge, physically restrained the housekeeper and had forceful carnal knowledge of her,” the prosecutor said.

Awosika further noted that the complainant confided in her employer the following day about the defilement, which was promptly reported to the authorities adding that subsequent medical examinations confirmed that she was defiled.

Earlier, during proceedings, Tonade's counsel Mrs Olabimpe Bamboye in her allocutus, asked the court to temper justice with mercy.

“My Lord, please temper justice with mercy, the defendant is a driver, he has a family and an aged father who he takes care of, ever since he has been in custody, the defendant has not been able to take care of his family,” she told the court.

According to the prosecution, the offence was in violation of Section 137 of the Criminal Code of Lagos State.