Article | 32-year-old engineer in the net for raping 12-year-old pupil

For a 32-year-old Ogun State born building engineer, Tijani Lateef, the devil that pushed him into raping a 12-year-old primary school pupil, needs to be exorcised while he is in prison custody, after the police in Lagos arrested him for the indecent act.

The incident which happened in the Abule Egba area of the state, has brought a lot of condemnation with many who know him swearing that he may have been under a satanic influence to indulge in such an act, going by the fact that he is a neighbour to the victim's parents Church Close residence and is seen as a very good 'uncle' in the area.

The young girl was said to have visited Lateef's his house around 7pm on the fateful day as he celebrated his birthday, where she met a group of boys at the party, to felicitate with him.

It was learnt that upon her request, she was served an alcoholic drink, identified as McDowells, which was said to have intoxicated her and she lost consciousness in the process.

Punch Newspaper reports that seeing the condition of the girl, Lateef allegedly took advantage of her condition and raped her repeatedly.

It was gathered that the victim’s father, Peter Adebayo, on getting wind of what happened to his daughter, barged into the suspect’s room and destroyed some of his property in fury.

The matter was later reported at the Oke-Odo Police Division and the suspect was arrested for the offence.

A medical test conducted on the victim at the General Hospital, Ile Epo, where she was admitted for five days, confirmed a case of sexual assault.

The suspect was subsequently arraigned before a Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court on two counts of defilement.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge and elected summary trial. His defence counsel asked the court to grant him bail in liberal terms. The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Y.O. Aje-Afunwa, admitted him to bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.