Lagos man rapes neighbour's 2-year-old daughter

A teacher (whose name has been omitted) described how her neighbor, Jubril Zakari, allegedly defiled her two-year-old boy in his room on Tuesday in front of an Ikeja Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence Court.

The witness, an Ojo, Lagos, resident, claimed she encountered the defendant while he was undressed in his chamber with his penis erect and her child undressed on the bed.

Ms. Inumidun Solaarin, Lagos State's attorney, ushered her into the witness stand.

She claimed to have discovered blood flowing from the infant's vagina.

The mother of three claimed that after hearing the child's cries within the compound, one of her neighbors informed her of the child's whereabouts.

She said: “The survivor is my daughter and she is three years old but was two years old at the time the incident happened.

“I was inside the room with my children. watching a movie, when an outage occurred. The children told me they wanted to go out, and I allowed them in order to put the house in order.

“It was not up to 10 minutes when one of my neighbours asked if my little baby was with me in the room, and I said, ‘No’.

“My neighbour told me she heard the cry of my baby, and I ran outside and started knocking on the door of the defendant which was locked.

“I saw my baby crying on the bed with blood in her private part and met the defendant also naked when I finally opened the door.’’

The witness went on to testify that the defendant wanted to flee by pulling his window burglary after hearing her scream for help to warn onlookers.

She continued by saying that other neighborhood kids and her next-door neighbor helped catch the defendant.

“He was taken to the police station in Ojo Barracks, where I wrote a statement after he was caught, and I was told to take my girl to Mirabel Centre for medical examination,” the witness said.

Mr. Samuel Okani, the defense attorney, requested a court adjournment so he could finish up some matters, but Justice Ramon Oshodi rejected his request.

According to the judge, the defense had more than three months to be ready.

During cross-examination, the witness said that the alleged event occurred around 3:00 p.m.

She claimed that she let her kids play outside because they frequently did so in front of the house.

She later clarified that on the day of the claimed occurrence, her husband was present at home.

“My husband heard when I was shouting and he came around.

“There was no fight between my husband and the defendant though the defendant’s mother came to me for settlement but I said, ‘No’ because I want Justice for my baby,” the witness said.

The defendant said he was a trailer repairman and had not seen the IPO before his arrest while being questioned by the prosecution in cross-examination.

Oshodi postponed the trial to February 7 so that he may make a decision regarding the trial inside a trial.