An Osun State High Court sitting in Ilesa has sentenced a politician
in Osun State to life imprisonment for raping a pregnant woman.
Obafemi Kolawole, a political associate to one Ganiyu Oladiran, a
chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ilesa, was on September 23
convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with whipping.
A.B Abdulkareem, the trial judge, while finding Mr. Kolawole guilty
noted that although the corroboration of a second prosecution witness
was limited to assault, it does not corroborate penetration which is the
vital ingredient necessary for rape.
However, the medical report tendered by one Dr. Isawumi corroborated the needed penetration necessary to convict the accused.
The judge thereafter held that Rachel Ojimi, the prosecution counsel
and a Chief State Counsel at the Ministry of Justice, had been able to
prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
He, however, struck out the charge of indecent assault since it carries a lesser punishment.
According to the prosecution, Mr. Kolawole, on 15th September, 2007,
raped a pregnant lady (names withheld to avoid stigmatization), a member
of the then Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN (now All Progressives
Congress, APC) who was pregnant at the time of the incident.
The event occurred after the 2007 gubernatorial election in Osun State.
The prosecution charged Mr. Kolawole before the State High Court on a
two-count charge of rape and indecent assault contrary to Sections 358
and 360 of the Criminal Code cap 34, Vol II, Laws of Osun.
Four prosecution witnesses were called namely: the pregnant lady,
Lawal Sikiru, Dr. A.I Isawumi, and Olatunji Arojo, a police Sergeant and
the Investigating Police Officer; while Mr. Kolawole testified in his
defence, along with Mr. Oladiran, Adediran Kehinde, Adewusi Olowolodu
and Olayinka Alege.
At the trial, the lady said that on September 15, 2007, the convict
and his cohorts, who are not Police Officers came to arrest her at her
house at about 7:30p.m.
for an unknown offence. On sighting them and knowing their antecedents
in the vicinity, she took to her heels. The convict pursued, caught up
with her, and beat her up.
Having overpowered her, the lady said the convict stripped her naked
and raped her, and that when her cry for help became unbearable, he
covered her mouth.
According to her, her neighbours in the compound had gone to the
Mosque because it was the period of the Moslem fast. Thereafter she was
bundled into a waiting jeep to join two other men whom she found in the
same predicament as her.
The lady further testified that they were driven to Mr. Oladiran’s
house and tied to a tree where the trio were mercilessly flogged; the
convict later untied her and plucked out her pubic hair, put it in her
mouth and swallowed with dry gin. Thereafter, he went ahead to insert a
tin opener into her vagina and poured dry gin all over her body. Then he
raped her again.
The second prosecution witness, Mr. Sikiru, testified that on the
fateful day, he was one of the two naked men in the waiting jeep; the
other was one Gbadamosi Lasun.
He stated further that he had earlier received his own share of the
beatings before being bundled naked into the jeep belonging to Mr.
Oladiran when the lady was brought in naked, and that the trio were
driven to Mr. Oladiran’s house and tied to a tree where they were beaten
and the contents of dry gin was poured all over their body.
According to him, the lady was untied by the convict who plucked out
her pubic hair, inserted a tin opener into her vagina, before going
ahead to pour the dry gin into her (vagina) and then sought the consent
of the Chief (Mr. Oladiran) to have another round of sexual intercourse
with her.
The Chief consented and she was taken to the boot of the jeep from where they heard her shouting for help.
The medical examination conducted on the lady three days upon
presentation after the incident at LAUTECH by Dr. Isawumi revealed that
there was penetration and that the swap taken from the defendant was
full of alcohol.
It was also discovered medically, that as at the time of the incident the lady was pregnant.
Mr. Arojo, the IPO, on his own part, testified that the lady and
others were brought to the State Police Command Monitoring Unit at
Okefia by Mr. Oladiran who claimed that the lady, and the others, whom
he got arrested were the ones who assaulted him after the April 2007
Gubernatorial Election in the State.
According to him, while receiving the statements of all concerned,
and conducting investigation into the matter, it was discovered that Mr.
Oladiran’s captives, that is, the lady and the others, were indeed the
victims, and the supposed complainants and cohorts were the accused
persons and were consequently charged to court.
Mr. Kolawole (the convict) in his own defence, denied the allegations
made against him. He admitted going to the lady’s house on the fateful
day and arresting her, but denied stripping her naked; rather, he said
he handed her over to his colleagues, who drove her and other captives
to Chief’s house, where they were later handed over to the police. His
other witnesses also admitted that the lady and others were driven to
the Chief’s house.
Mr. Oladiran, while testifying for the defence, claimed his
co-accused at the Magistrate Court who arrested the defendant and the
others were his sympathizers.
Source: Premium Times.
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