23-Year Old, Obinna Obaji Given N1 Million Bail For 'Defiling 3-Year-Old'

An Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court on Friday granted bail in the sum of N1 million to a 23-year-old trader, Obinna Obaji, who allegedly defiled a three-year-old girl by fingering...

The Chief Magistrate, Tajudeen Elias, in his ruling, ordered the defendant to produce two sureties in like sum as part of the bail conditions.

Elias said Obaji should deposit N100, 000 into the Chief Registrar’s Account, pending the determination of the case.

Obaji, a trader of No 32, Orisumbare Street, Iyana Ipaja, a suburb of Lagos, was arraigned on Feb. 29 on a one-count charge of sexual assault, but he pleaded not guilty.

The prosecutor, Benedict Aigbokhan, told the court that the defendant committed the offence at his residence on Feb. 21. Aigbokhan said that the defendant was living in the same compound with the victim’s mother.

“It was when the victim, a three-year-old girl, wanted to urinate that her mother discovered that she was finding it difficult to urinate and also crying.

“The mother saw marks on her daughter’s vagina and when she asked her what happened, the girl said it was the defendant that inserted his hand into it,’’ Aigbokhan said.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 404 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. Elias, however, adjourned the case to April 13 for the Department of Public Prosecution’s advice.

(NAN)