A 32-year-old man, Chimezie
Nwosu, has been arraigned in an Apapa Magistrate’s Court for allegedly raping a
10-year-old pupil.
Nwosu was arraigned on
Wednesday on one count of rape before a magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Adegbite.
PUNCH learnt that the
victim, Deborah (pseudonym) and Nwosu lived in the same compound on Marwa Road,
Satellite Town, Lagos State.
The girl was reportedly
returning from school around 2pm when Nwosu called her to his room on the
pretext of sending her on an errand. But he shut the door instead.
He was said to have
forcefully removed her clothes and raped her while she cried for help.
It was learnt that
neighbours, who heard the cry, alerted Deborah’s elder brother.
They rushed to Nwosu’s
apartment to rescue the girl while the case was reported at the Satellite
Police Division.
In her statement to the
police, Deborah reportedly said, “I just stepped into the compound on the way
from school that day when Mr. Chimezie (Nwosu) called me. He said he wanted me
to help him to buy something and I entered his room.
“He shut the door and
removed my clothes and slept on me. He told me to stop shouting and put his
thing (manhood) in my bumbum.”
However, Nwosu, who hails
from Umuovum village in the Oweri-North Local Government Area, Imo State,
denied raping the girl, saying the allegation was an attempt to blackmail him.
A police prosecutor,
Francisca Job, who brought the defendant before the court, said the offence
contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The charge read, “That you,
Chimezie Nwosu, on June 8, 2016, at about 2pm on Marwa Road, Satellite Town,
Lagos, in the Apapa Magisterial District, did unlawfully have sexual
intercourse with a 10-year-old girl without her consent, thereby committing an
offence punishable under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not
guilty and elected summary trial.
The magistrate, Adegbite,
granted him bail in the sum of N100, 000 with two sureties in like sum.
While adjourning the case, Adegbite
added that the sureties must be residents of Lagos State and must tender
evidence of tax payments to the prosecutor for verification.
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