The Ikeja Sexual Offence and Domestic Violence Court, on Friday, discharged and acquitted a trader, Jeremiah Aniede, who was accused of defiling a 17-year-old teenage girl who ran away from home.

Justice Abiola Soladoye, who found the defendant not guilty of the offence of defilement, held that the prosecution could not discharge the burden of proof against the defendant.

She held that the victim’s evidence before the court could not be corroborated, as there were contradictions in her testimony and she lied that she never made a statement at the police station.

“It is desirable for a testimony to be corroborated, there were missing vital material contradictions and the contradiction has been resolved in favour of the defendant

“A case of defilement must be corroborated. Where there is a contradiction, the court must reject the entire evidence.

“Her evidence was full of lies and was not reliable. Her accounts are so contradictory,” she said.

The prosecution counsel, Olushola Soneye, during the arraignment of Aniede, had accused him of having sexual intercourse with the victim on May 27, 2021.

Soneye said that the incident occurred at No 17, Apapa Road, Oyingbo, Lagos.

According to the prosecution, the offence committed contravened Section 37 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

Aniede, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge against him.

During the trial, the victim, who testified solely for herself, told the court that she was 17 years old and attended vocational class.

The victim told Justice Soladoye that she stole her father’s money and boarded a bus from Ijebu–Ode to Lagos.

She said that when she got to Ketu bus stop she bought a hijab for N700,000 and later a thrift cloth, and then told a roadside trader (Aniede), to help her get a place to sleep, as she was known in Lagos.

The girl said after she approached the defendant, he offered to help her and asked her to come later so that he could take her to where she would sleep.

She further stated that it was night and Aniede took her to a hotel, but that she refused to follow him, into the hotel.

According to her, he later took her to a place and asked her to wait outside and then came with two Super Bite gala and Fanta which he gave her to eat and drink.

She said that the defendant took her to an uncompleted building and raped her, adding that it was some people that helped her to Ketu police station.

During cross-examination, the teenager denied that she made any statement at the Ketu Police Station and that she did not meet with any friend.

Before Justice Soladoye discharged and acquitted Aniede, she advised that the teenager should refrain from social vices, going and frolicking on the street, saying stealing her father’s money and running away from home was unnecessary.

“The totality of the evidence in this court did not prove the case against the defendant; he is hereby not found guilty of the offence of defilement, he is hereby discharged and acquitted,” the judge held.