A 33-year-old accounts officer, Stephen Itodo, who allegedly raped his neighbour, was on Tuesday arraigned in an Oshodi Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State.
Itodo, who resides at 18, Alhaji Shehu Close, Oshodi, Lagos, is being tried for assault and rape.
The prosecutor, Corporal Kehinde Olatunde, told the court that the accused committed the offences on May 3 at his residence.
Olatunde said the accused unlawfully raped his neighbour without her consent.
He said: “The accused forcefully had unlawful sexual intercourse with his 20-year-old neighbour without her permission.
“The accused sent the complainant on an errand to buy matches for him.
“The accused went to call the complainant in her room that he was not feeling fine that she should help him to buy matches.
“When the complainant came with the matches, she knocked on Itodo’s door, he told her to open the door and bring it inside that he was too weak to get up.
“Immediately the complainant opened the door and stepped inside, the accused, who was hiding behind the door, bolted it and dragged her to his bed.”
The prosecutor said the complainant shouted for help, but the accused overpowered her and forcefully had sex with her.
The offences, Olatunde said, contravened Sections 258 and 261 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Section 258 prescribes a life jail term as penalty for offenders.
The accused denied committing the offence and the Magistrate, Akeem Fashola, granted him bail in the sum of N200,000 with one surety in like sum.
Fashola adjourned the case till June 8 for further hearing.
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