I slept with 12-year-old girl thrice, says man, 50

A 50-year-old tailor, Cobina Iziejen, yesterday pleaded guilty to the charge of defiling a 12-year-old girl (name withheld) when he was arraigned before an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, Lagos. Iziejen was arraigned alongside two others – Raimi Jimoh (38) and Arowolo Kazeem Olorunwa (35) – on a three-count charge of defilement of a child. While Iziejen pleaded guilty, Jimoh and Olorunwa denied the allegations.
However, the Lagos State counsel, Bola Akinsete, said that the trio allegedly committed the offences sometimes in 2017 around Orimedu Town, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos. Akinsete said that the offence of
defilement of a child was contrary to Section 137 of Criminal Law, Ch.C17, Vol.3, laws of Lagos State.
According to the charge: “Jimoh, Olorunwa and Iziejen sometime in 2017 at the above mentioned address, did have unlawful sexual intercourse on several occasions with one 12-yearold girl (name withheld).” Meanwhile, in his confessional statement, Iziejen said that the girl often comes to his residence at Orimedu to sew clothes.

He said: “On that fateful, she (victim) came to my house and told me she wanted to sew a dress but didn’t have any fabric. I discovered a funny character she exhibited but since I knew I had anaemia, I advised myself not to have intimacy with any female.
“I couldn’t hold the urge anymore since she was acting in a way I didn’t want people to notice her presence. I gave in and had intercourse with her on three different occasions.
“But after the intercourse, on the first day, I gave her N1,500 because she told me she wanted to buy books at school.” Akinsete thereafter requested for a date for facts and sentencing on Iziejen (who is the 3rd defendant) and a trial date for the other two defendants who pleaded not guilty. Justice Sybil Nwaka adjourned further hearing in the matter till tomorrow.
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