A grandfather, Paul Setonji, and five other suspects, who gang-raped a 20-year-old hawker, have been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The men were said to have tricked the victim into a primary school at Yansiwhe in the Makoko area of Lagos State and took turns to illegally have carnal knowledge of her.
She was said to have passed out at a point, but the men used her hijab (shawl) to fan her before ordering her to leave the premises.
The police said the suspects, who were all nationals of Benin Republic, fled the scene after the incident.
But 40-year-old Setonji and Abraham Huvensu, 25, were arrested and confessed that they slept with the girl in the unnamed primary school.
At a Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, the police said efforts were on to apprehend the other suspects who were still at large.
Setonji and Huvensu, after being arraigned on two counts of rape and conspiracy, pleaded guilty to the charges.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Peter Nwangwu, while giving the facts of the case, said the victim reported the matter at the Yaba Police Station.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs A. Ipaye-Nwachukwu, admitted the statements of the defendants and the victim as exhibits.
The defendants, who spoke through an interpreter, admitted that the prosecutor’s account was valid, begging the court to forgive them.
Ipaye-Nwachukwu, having found them guilty, sentenced them to five years imprisonment on each count.
She said, “On count one, the first and second defendant convicts are sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour.
“On count two, they are also sentenced to five years imprisonment. The sentences are to run concurrently.”
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