The Ikeja Magistrate Court on Thursday, July 18, 2024, ordered the remand of a 72-year-old man, Patrick Ukpenor, at a correction centre for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl.
Magistrate E.Kubrinhe, the Chief Magistrate of the court ruled that Mr Ukpenor be remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre until August 13, 2024, when his trial will commence.
The prosecutor, Inspector John Iberedem, informed the court that Ukpenor sexually assaulted the girl on July 4, 2024, at Amutu Street, Ilasamaja, Lagos.
According to Iberedem, the defendant contravened the provisions of Sections 261, 263(1) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015 by sexually assaulting the minor.
The offence of sexual assault attracts a year’s jail term while sexual assault by penetration is punishable with life imprisonment if convicted.
The United Nations Women had earlier said that a total of 11,200 rape cases, including children who were raped to death, were reported in Nigeria in 2020.
The UN body said some of these included children who were raped to death even as violence against women continues to occur at an alarming rate.
The global women’s body added that, “About 43.5 per cent of female children were given out in early marriages, 18.4 per cent suffered from female genital mutilation, 17.4 per cent suffered from lifetime physical or secular intimate partner violence.”
