Lagos school bus driver sentenced to life in prison for molesting 3-year-old girl

Michael Mowete, a school bus driver, has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing a three-year-old girl (name withheld).

The ruling was delivered on Tuesday by Justice Rahman Oshodi at the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.

In his ruling, Justice Oshodi stressed the strength of the prosecution case in proving the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. He rejected Mowete’s claims of a relationship with the victim’s mother, citing conflicting evidence presented during the trial.

“The allegation that the accused had a romantic relationship with the victim’s mother in her shop is baseless,” Oshodi said, highlighting testimony from the school bus assistant, who confirmed Mowete’s presence whenever the child was taken to her mother’s shop.

The court found the young victim’s first-hand testimony convincing, who despite her age detailed the assault to the court. Her account was corroborated by her mother and medical evidence, along with circumstantial evidence from police officers who conducted the investigation.

“All the evidence, including the evidence of the prosecution, corroborates the testimony of the mother and the medical report,” Justice Oshodi said, noting the medical examination’s findings of repeated blunt force trauma.

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Regarding Mowete’s defence, which relied on telephone call records purportedly showing communications with the victim’s mother, Justice Oshodi ruled that the evidence was unconvincing and did not support his claim.

“The prosecution has met the burden of proof against the accused,” Justice Oshodi concluded. Mowete was convicted under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State (2015) and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In his sentencing remarks, Justice Oshodi addressed Mowete directly: “Michael Mowete, this court has found you guilty of the charge of blasphemy. You have defiled a child, who is only three years old, and attempted to mislead him by fabricating a relationship with his mother.”

The judge ordered that Mowete’s name be registered on the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register and that he serve his sentence at the Maximum Correctional Centre.

The trial featured four witnesses from the prosecution and defense. The crime was committed on September 27, 2019, at locations in Isolo and Ago Okota, Lagos, according to the prosecutor’s indictment.

Lagos school bus driver sentenced to life for desecrating 3-year-old girl first appeared on Latest Nigeria News | Headlines from Ripples Nigeria.