An Ikeja special offences court has sentenced Afeez Ogunbowale, a student of the Lagos State University (LASU), to 21 years in prison for involvement in armed robbery and rape of two fellow students of the institution.
According to NAN, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, the judge, sentenced the student after finding him guilty of the five counts bordering on conspiracy, rape and armed robbery against him.
Taiwo said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
She held that the testimonies of the victims were compelling, adding that they were able to positively identify Ogunbowale as one of the culprits.
“The defendant is hereby sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy, 21 years’ imprisonment each for counts of armed robbery and 21 years’ imprisonment each for counts of rape. The sentences are to run concurrently,” she said.
Ogunbowale, who has been suspended by LASU over the case, was said to have wept profusely at the dock after the court judgment.
In his argument, the prosecution team led by O.A Bajulaiye-Bishi had said that the defendant committed the offences alongside others who are at large, on April 18, 2018, at the Okokomaiko area of Lagos.
“The defendant and his accomplices, while armed with a gun, knife, machete and bottle, robbed the two students in their off campus accommodation,” she said.
“They were robbed of their phones, power bank, earpiece, gold chain and N1, 200. The defendant and one of his accomplices who is still at large had unlawful sexual intercourse with the complainants. The offences contravene Sections 260(1) and 297(2)(a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
During their appearance before the court in November 2019, the two students sexually assaulted had told the court that they lost their virginities to the attack.
The witnesses said they were robbed by five men but raped by two members of the gang – Ogunbowale and another – who is at large.
They said that they were able to identify Ogunbowale through Facebook, adding that they belonged to the same faculty.
The complainants testified that when they confronted the convict at a police station, he prostrated and begged for forgiveness.
But during his defence on September 30, 2020; the convict denied involvement in the crime and gave an alibi to the court.
In the defence through Bisi Salau, his counsel, the convict had claimed on the night the offences were committed, he was in the school premises preparing for an examination which was to begin in May 2018.
