A Lagos Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ogba, yesterday sentenced a 29-year-old man, one Ganiyu Awawu to four and half years’ imprisonment for attempting to rape a 25-year-old food seller, Taiwo Ogundipo.
The victim, according to reports, was walking along Safuratu Yakubu Way, Ayobo, around 4pm on August 28 when the convict, said to be ‘high’ on cannabis, called her and bought food from her.
He was said to have ordered for N250 worth of food and reportedly lured the victim to an uncompleted building to collect the money. When they got there, reports say he overpowered her.
It was further reported that Awawu stripped the woman naked and threatened to kill her if she raised any alarm, but she resisted.
In the ensuing scuffle, a passerby, who heard her screams, mobilised others and stormed the building. They reportedly freed the woman and took Awawu to a community leader who handed him over to the police.
Awawu had told the police that he was hungry on the fateful day, but did not have money to pay for the food.
He said, “I just finished smoking cannabis that day and became hungry. I bought N250 food from her. I told her to come in to have the money, but I was lying. I was about to rape her when I was caught.”
Awawu was reportedly arraigned on September 2 and had pleaded guilty to four counts bordering on attempted rape and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Clifford Ogu, urged the court to sentence Awawu accordingly, to serve as a deterrent to others.
The charges against him read in part: “That you, Ganiyu Awawu, on August 28, 2015, at about 4pm on Safuratu Yakubu Way, Ayobo, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conduct yourself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by threatening to kill one Taiwo Ogundipo, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 166 (D), Vol. 44 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
“That you, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did sexually harass Taiwo Ogundipo by holding her neck and ordering her to remove all her clothes, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 170, Vol. 44 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.”
However, apart from the jail term, Awawu was fined a sum of N5, 000 by the court presided over by a Chief Magistrate, Mrs. T. Akanni.
Akanni held that the convict should pay a fine of N5, 000 for the first count.
He was sentenced him to two years in prison for the second and third counts and the Magistrate handed him four and half years for the fourth count, adding that the jail terms should run simultaneously.
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