The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a tricycle rider in the Ijegun area of the state, Opeyemi Alamu, for allegedly administering drugs on a 13-year-old girl and defiling her.
Alamu had reportedly lured the girl, Joy (pseudonym), to his house at Bank bus stop, Ijegun, around 6:00pm when her grandmother, whom she lived with, was not at home.
City Round learnt that the 23-year-old man entertained Joy with a drink in which he had put a substance suspected to be a sedative. She was said to have slept off after taking the drink.
It was gathered that Alamu then removed her dress and had sex with her.
The girl’s mother reportedly became worried when she returned home around 8:00pm and couldn’t find her.
The woman was said to have raised the alarm, which prompted some people to join her in searching for Joy.
It was learnt that a neighbour tipped the search party around 12:00am that she saw the girl with Alamu. Some men, who reportedly visited the man’s house, met his door locked but heard his voice from the room. They were said to have forced the door open and caught him in the act.
He was handed over to officers at the Isheri Osun Police Station and the Family Support Unit of the Ikotun Division from where the case was transferred to the Gender Unit of the state police command headquarters in Ikeja, the capital.
The 13-year-old victim told the police that she was at her grandmother’s shop on Saturday, March 9, 2019 when the suspect approached and asked her to follow him to his house to get a drink.
The girl said she was reluctant to take the drink until Alamu assured her that he meant no harm.
She said, “The man’s house is close to my grandma’s shop. He gave me a soft drink but I did not want to take it.
“He then asked me if he couldn’t give me something. I reluctantly collected the drink and drank it. That was the last thing I knew until I found myself at my grandmother’s house the following day.
“I felt pains in my stomach and private parts when I got home.”
In his statement, Alamu, a native of Osun State, owned up to the offence but said the girl got drunk at a birthday party held in the community that day.
He said he met Joy on his way to visit a friend in the area and she agreed to follow him there, adding that he had sex with her at the friend’s house and not his room.
He said, “I am a tricycle rider and shuttles the Ijegun-Ikotun route. I buy foodstuffs from the girl’s grandmother. That was how she and I began to talk.
“That Saturday, I saw her at Bank bus stop and told her that I was going to my friend’s house nearby. She decided to followed me there.
“On getting to the place, she slept off because she was drunk. I was not the one who gave her the drink. She took it a birthday party.
“While she was asleep, I had sex with her. Some men came around 12:30am and started knocking at the door. They met her naked and started beating me. They later handed me over to the police.”
A police prosecutor, Inspector Ben Emuerhi, brought Alamu before an Ogba Magistrates’ Court on eight counts bordering on abduction, defilement and unlawful use of drug.
He said the offences, to which the defendant pleaded not guilty when arraigned, contravened the Criminal and Child’s Right Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The charges read in part, “That you, Opeyemi Alamu, on March 9, 2019, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conduct yourself in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by abducting a 13-year-old girl, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 168(d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
“That you, Opeyemi Alamu, on the same date, time and place, in the aforementioned magisterial district, did involve a 13-year-old girl in the use of drugs, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 22(2) of Child’s Rights Law of Lagos State, 2015.
“That you, Opeyemi Alamu, on the same date, time and place, did have sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 27(1) of Child’s Rights Law of Lagos State, 2015.”
The presiding magistrate, Mrs O. Sule-Hamzat, did not take the defendant’s bail.
She held that a duplicate of the case file be sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions for legal advice while the defendant be remanded in prison custody.
The case was adjourned till May 9, 2019.