IKEJA, (LAGOS) — A medical doctor, working at the Mirabel Centre, a sexual assault referral centre, Mistura Shogunle, on Wednesday, March 9, 2022, narrated how a 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by seven men in her neighbourhood.
Shogunle testified before the Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court at the trial of a 20-year-old fashion designer, Rasheed Fashola who is being charged for two counts of conspiracy and defilement of a child.
Fashola had, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Led in evidence by state counsel, Mrs Olasunbo Abiodun-Muniru, the doctor said the minor came to the centre to seek medical attention on September 28, 2020, a day after she was allegedly defiled.
“The client said that on September 27, 2020 which was a Sunday, her father sent her on an errand, and seven boys in the neighbourhood stopped her. They dragged her into an uncompleted building, her mouth was covered with a handkerchief and they took turns to rape her through unprotected penile intercourse into her vagina,” Shogunle said.
She continued, “When examined, the victim was calm and clinically stable and had no obvious physical injuries. There were, however, significant genital findings: the labia majora was normal while the labia minora (inner lips of the genital) had a bruise. The natural covering of the vagina, called the hymen, was absent. There were no significant anal findings.
“The general findings are in keeping with recent blunt force penetration into her vagina which could have been caused by penile vagina penetration as declared verbally by the client.”
Shogunle, a certified forensic sexual assault examiner, noted in her testimony that she had asked the victim’s father who had accompanied her to throw more light on what had happened to his daughter.
She said the father informed her that he had sent his daughter on an errand and had expected her to return home early. Instead, he saw her with two men who came to his residence to tell him that his daughter had been defiled.
During cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr. O.O. Ogunjimi, the witness said that she did not find any semen when she medically examined the minor.
“It was not the day the incident happened that the client visited the Mirabel Centre. The client did not tell me whether she had taken her bath or not. I also got a voluntary history of what happened from her,” Shogunle said, adding that the minor did not disclose the names of the men who allegedly defiled her.
According to the prosecution, Fashola, alongside others at large, committed the offence at 8:00 p.m. on September 27, 2020, in an uncompleted building at Oluwashina Junction, Itire, Lagos State.
Justice Rahman Oshodi thereafter adjourned until May 6, 2022, for a continuation of trial
Ezinwanne Onwuka, senior staff reporter and columnist with WAP is a Nigerian-based writer and content developer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her interests include reading, writing, researching and graphic designing.
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