Lagos court sentences man to death for armed robbery, gang rape

A 26-year-old man, Genty Azeez, who robbed a house in Epe area of Lagos State and raped an occupant, was on Friday sentenced to death.
An Ikeja High Court, which handed down the verdict, also sentenced one of his accomplices, 29-year-old David Adeniji, to 20 years imprisonment.
Justice Lateefat Okunnu said both men were guilty of committing offences of conspiracy, armed robbery and rape.
The convicts were charged to court by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
The state prosecutor, Femi Adamson, said that the men conspired with two other men still at large to commit the offences on November 1, 2011.
According to Adamson, they broke into the home of one Alhaji Lawal in Onoja Estate, Epe at about midnight and robbed the occupants.
He said apart from stealing items such as jewellery and mobile phones, the four men also took turns to rape Lawal’s daughter.
The offences contravened Sections 285 (1), 295 (2), (A) and 297 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
In their testimonies, Lawal’s two daughters, designated as PW1 and PW2, told the court that the four robbers gained entry through the kitchen.
They affirmed that the robbers came with two cutlasses demanding the proceeds of a car which they claimed the family had sold the week before.
The witnesses said following explanations by the family that they had not sold any car during the period, the robbers pounced on them and beat them up.
The sisters said the robbers raped one of them and made away with their belongings.
One of the girls said Adeniji, also known as “Stone”, lived in their neighbourhood and she was able to identify him the next day after the robbery.
The witness said she pointed out the robber to her elder brother after she saw him staring at their house.
The girl said she identified Adeniji because there was light at the time of the robbery and that Adeniji operated unmasked.
According to her, he was also wearing the same shirt he wore during the operation.
The witnesses said he was subsequently apprehended and handed over to the police.
In their testimonies, both Adeniji and Azeez claimed that they were in their respective houses with their families at the time of the incident.
The court held that they failed to account for their own whereabouts as at the time of the incident and that none of their family members came to testify on their behalf.
In her judgment, Okunnu said the testimonies of the two sisters had “a strong streak of credibility” and that the counter-arguments of the convicts could not hold.
She consequently sentenced both of them to death.
The court, however, reviewed its judgment, following pleas by the counsel to the defence, Olayinka Onabolu, of the Office of the Public Defender.
Onabolu urged the court to temper justice with mercy in punishing Adeniji on the grounds that he had aged parents.
Following no objection from the prosecution counsel, Okunnu then commuted Adeniji’s sentence to a 20-year jail term.