A 47-year-old businessman, Maduabuchi Onwuta, on Monday denied defiling a 16-month-old baby before an Ikeja, Lagos State High Court, but hospital report confirmed that her hymen had been ruptured.
The accused, who allegedly committed the offence in November 2013 at an apartment in Isheri, a Lagos suburb, told the court: “The baby’s mother gave me the baby to watch over her while she went to bathe.
“There were four of us at home on that fateful day; the baby, her mother, the mother’s young niece and I.
“I, however, fell asleep and did not know what happened to the baby during the time I was asleep.
“I was awoken by the baby’s mother, who said the baby was bleeding from her private part.
“She accused me of defiling her daughter, but I did not defile the 16-month-old baby.”
From the evidences before the court, Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya ordered that the baby’s blood-stained diaper, one of the exhibits before the court, should be taken to a forensic laboratory for analysis.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Adebayo Haroun, had said the accused committed the offence on November. 26, 2013 at his residence located at the Isheri area of Lagos.
Haroun said: “The defendant has been a longtime family friend of the complainant’s family; he and the complainant’s uncle were secondary school classmates.
“The defendant helped the complainant’s mother by subletting a room in his apartment to her when she had accommodation problems.
“After the incident, the baby’s family took her to a hospital where tests confirmed that her hymen had been ruptured.”
The offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
The case has been adjourned to February 23 for the submission of the forensic examination result.
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