A sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Lagos, on Tuesday, July 28, sentenced a 37-year-old commercial motorcyclist, Emmanuel Idoko, to 20 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting his 12-year-old daughter. 

Idoko was convicted for inserting his finger into his daughter's vagina to check if she is a virgin. 

The presiding Judge, Justice Sybil Nwaka, said the evidences provided by the prosecuting counsel show beyond doubts that the defendant was guilty of the charge. 

"The defendant is found guilty of the charge of sexual assault by penetration contrary to section 261 of Criminal law of Lagos State 2015.

He is hereby sentenced to 20 years imprisonment."

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The prosecution counsel, led by Babajide Boye, had told the court that Idoko committed the offence between July and November 2017 at his residence in Oworoshoki, Lagos State. 

He said the defendant sexually assaulted his 12-year-old daughter (name withheld) by penetrating her vagina using his finger. 

Report says four witnesses also testified to the case, saying Idoko committed the offence. 

One of the witnesses, Oyedeji Alagbe, a medical doctor and a consultant, on March 5, 2019, narrated what the victim told him after he examined her.

 Alagbe said: “The client declared in her history that her father, though not married to her mother, had her and her male sibling living with him.

“The victim’s ordeal started in 2016, a year before she was referred to the Mirabel Centre.

“The victim said her father came home and said that he heard from people that she was no longer a virgin and he needed to test her to see if it was true.

“He forced her to undress and said he will use his finger to test her, the client was reluctant. He scolded her and eventually did it with his fingers.

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“He also said that he would use his penis to examine her and she refused, he beat her and he subsequently started torturing her in the home because she kept turning down his requests.”

However, Idoko, on November 21, 2019, denied the allegations made against him, saying he didn't see his daughter’s nakedness and insert his fingers into her private part to test her virginity.

“My daughter is following bad friends, my neighbours said all sorts of things about her. I initially did not believe it until I saw it myself.

“On November 21, 2017, I saw my daughter with some boys while her brother was in the house watching television.

“When I called her name, the boys ran away and I asked her to tell me who her boyfriend was.

“When I tried to beat her, she tried to fight me like those friends of hers who beat up their parents. That was the reason I beat her that day,” he said.

As investigations gathered momentum and confrontation by the Police, Idoko confessed to seeing his daughter’s nakedness, although he told the court that her clothes fell off when she was struggling with him in his attempt to discipline her.

“I did not tear her clothes. I do not understand my statement, I was close to fainting when the statement was written,” he said.