Oto Edet Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Raping Neighbour’s 9-Year-Old Daughter

A 44-year-old man, Oto Edet, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Abiola Soladoye of the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for raping his neighbour’s nine-year-old daughter in a disturbing case that spanned from 2020 to 2021.

Justice Soladoye delivered this judgment on Tuesday, where she described Edet as a pathological liar and a dirty neighbour who had no regard for decency or the innocence of a child. She held that the prosecution, led by Lagos State counsel Ms Abimbola Abolade, had successfully proven the one-count charge of defilement beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court heard details of how Oto Edet repeatedly abused the child, who courageously testified that he had put his penis in my bum bum before, referencing incidents that occurred while the convict’s wife had just given birth. The minor recounted that she had been sent to sweep the compound but went missing, prompting a search that led her mother to Oto Edet’s door, where her slippers were found outside, and she was discovered naked inside, behind the door, with Oto Edet caught with his boxers down.

Justice Soladoye condemned Edet’s actions as unwholesome conduct and declared that such individuals must face the full weight of the law. She ordered that Oto Edet’s name be entered into Lagos State’s sexual offenders register and emphasised the need for parents to be vigilant and for the justice sector to reinforce a culture of zero tolerance for sexual abuse.

The prosecution presented three witnesses and four exhibits during the trial, while the defence offered no testimony and chose to rest its case on the prosecution’s evidence. The incident took place on Solomon Toriola Street in the Abaranje-Olorun area of Lagos and violated Section 137 of the Lagos State Criminal Law (2015).