59-year-old father sentenced to double life imprisonment for raping two daughters for years

A 59-year-old father, Eze Chukwuma, has been sentenced to double life imprisonment for defiling his two daughters over the course of nine years.

The artisan was sentenced Monday, September 18, by the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja.

Justice Abiola Soladoye who handed down the verdict held that the prosecution sufficiently proved the two counts bordering on defilement against Chukwuma.

The judge stated that the testimonies of prosecution witnesses were corroborated with that of the victims.

According to her, valid evidence was laced and documented, and the admission of the convict to have had canal knowledge of his two daughters during cross-examination was crucial.

She said that the defendant's incestuous relationship with his two daughters, following the death of his wife in 2008, is senseless.

The survivors told this court that their biological father had been having sex with them after their mother died during childbirth.

The judge said: "The oldest was nine years old at the time.

"The children were taken to their village, and even after telling their kinsmen about their father's acts, nothing was done.

"They returned to Lagos, and the second child reported to the school after her older sister ran away from home as she could no longer endure the assault."

Justice Soladoye stated that the school invited the Lagos State Ministry of Education and social workers which led to the convict's arrest, while the survivors were taken to an orphanage.

"The defendant admitted the act and stated that he was sorry. This is also in his statement which was admitted and marked Exhibit A.

"He is a dirty father who should be locked up for life as his conduct is disgracing.

"The defendant is found guilty as charged and hereby sentenced to life imprisonment on each of the two charges," she said.

The judge also ordered that the convict's name should be registered in the Sexual Offences Register of Lagos State.

She praised the survivors and their school authorities for speaking up and reporting to the necessary authorities.

Lagos State counsel, Mrs Olufunke Adegoke, presented five witnesses while the convict testified as a sole witness during the trial.

Adegoke submitted that the convict committed the offences between 2008 and 2017 at No. 2, Agbeke Street, by Iyana-Era Bus-stop, Ijanikin, Lagos State.