Court remands 2 for alleged child defilement, abortion procurement

An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court on Thursday ordered remand of a 50-year-old man, Sakiru Oladosu, and a 40-year-old woman, Tola Rasaq, charged defiling and impregnating a 13-year–old and unlawfully procuring abortion for her.

The Magistrate, Mrs Ejiro. Kubeinje, did not take their pleas.

She ordered that they should be kept at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending advice of the state Director of Public Prosecutions.

Kubeinje adjourned the case until July 7 for mention.

The police had arraigned the defendants, who reside in Mushin, Lagos State, on charges of defilement and unlawful procurement of abortion.

The  prosecutor,  DSP Kehinde Ajayi, told the court that the defendants committed the offences in February on Odusanmi Street, Mushin.

She said that Oladosu lured the teenager to his house, defiled her and impregnated her.

“The defendant took the girl on April 3, to an undisclosed pharmacy On Ashofin Street, Okareju Mushin in Lagos.

“He conspired with Tola Rasaq to pay N4,000 to unlawfully administer an injection to abort the pregnancy,” the prosecutor alleged.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that defilement attracts up to life imprisonment, according to  Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Unlawful procurement of miscarriage is punishable with three years’ imprisonment under Section 135(1)(2) of the criminal law.