{"id":136975,"date":"2024-11-05T11:52:27","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T10:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor"},"modified":"2024-11-05T12:55:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T11:55:33","slug":"cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor","title":{"rendered":"Cleric bags life imprisonment for defiling minor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday sentenced an Islamic cleric, Alani Rafiu, to life imprisonment for defiling a 14-year-old year girl (name withheld).<\/p>\n<p>In his judgement, Justice Rahman Oshodi held that the prosecution proved each of the ingredients of defilement against Rafiu.<\/p>\n<p>Oshodi said that the gravity of the convict\u2019s offence could not be overstated as he betrayed the trust placed on him as a religious instructor and family friend.<\/p>\n<p>He said the convict\u2019s conduct represented a profound violation of secular and religious principles.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the evidence before the court reveals a calculated pattern of predatory behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>The court held that the convict deliberately isolated the victim, exploited her vulnerability and bought her silence with money.<\/p>\n<p>The judge said: \u201cYou betrayed the trust placed in you as a religious instructor and family friend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of nurturing and protecting a vulnerable 14-year-old child entrusted in your spiritual care, you repeatedly sexually abused her in a place of worship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe physical and psychological trauma inflicted on this young girl is immeasurable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt an age when she should be focused on her education and development, she was subjected to experiences that no child should endure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oshodi further said that there was compelling and consistent proof establishing that the victim was a child and the evidence manifested through multiple sources.<\/p>\n<p>He said the victim, in her evidence, provided a specific, detailed and first-hand account of sexual intercourse with the convict.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the evidence of the victim was corroborated by the medical report which showed penile penetration.<\/p>\n<p>He said the convict abused religious authority and the sacred space of a mosque to perpetrate sexual violations against the survivor.<\/p>\n<p>The court maintained that places of worship should be sanctuaries of safety and spiritual growth, not venues for the exploitation of children.<\/p>\n<p>Oshodi said: \u201cThe prosecution gave evidence that the defendant had sex with her three times in the mosque.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe medical evidence and the prosecutor\u2019s testimony paint a disturbing picture of the physical harm you caused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bleeding she experienced and your callous provision of a handkerchief to clean up the evidence of your abuse demonstrate a shocking disregard for her well-being.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis court must protect children from sexual predators and send a clear message that such conduct will be met with the full force of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The court, subsequently, convicted Rafiu and sentenced him to life imprisonment.<\/p>\n<p>The court also ordered that his name be registered in the sexual offences register as maintained by the Lagos State Government.<\/p>\n<p>The state counsel, led by Mr Babajide Boye, called three witnesses through whom several documents were tendered while the convict testified as a sole witness.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution submitted that the convict committed the offence on August 17, 2021, in Ikotun, Lagos.<\/p>\n<p>The offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About Nigeria Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday sentenced an Islamic cleric, Alani Rafiu, to life imprisonment for defiling a 14-year-old year girl (name withheld). In his judgement, Justice Rahman Oshodi held that the prosecution proved each of the ingredients of defilement against Rafiu. Oshodi said that the gravity of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":136974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[3708,69,254],"class_list":["post-136975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-cleric","tag-court","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cleric bags life imprisonment for defiling minor - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday sentenced an Islamic cleric, Alani Rafiu, to life impriso ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cleric bags life imprisonment for defiling minor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday sentenced an Islamic cleric, Alani Rafiu, to life impriso ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-05T10:52:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-05T11:55:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/sm_1730795112.577822.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Cleric bags life imprisonment for defiling minor\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-05T10:52:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-05T11:55:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor\"},\"wordCount\":494,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/sm_1730795112.577822.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cleric\",\"court\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cleric-bags-life-imprisonment-for-defiling-minor\",\"name\":\"Cleric bags life imprisonment for defiling minor - 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