7 men gang-raped 13-year-old girl — Doctor

By NIKE AYODELE/MOJI ENIOLA

A medical doctor, Mistura Shogunle, on Wednesday narrated before an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court how a 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by seven men in her neighbourhood.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Shogunle testified at the trial of a 20-year-old fashion designer, Rasheed Fashola, for conspiracy and defilement of a child.

Fashola had pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge.

Led in evidence by state counsel, Mrs Olasunbo Abiodun-Muniru, the doctor working at the Mirabel Centre (a sexual assault referral centre), said that the minor came to the centre to seek medical attention on Sept. 28, 2020, a day after she was allegedly defiled.

“The client said that on Sept. 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.

The doctor said that the survivor was calm and clinically stable during the medical examination and that she 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,” she said.

The doctor, also a certified forensic sexual assault examiner, testified that she asked the survivor’s father, who accompanied her, to throw more light on what happened to his daughter.

She said that the father informed her that he sent his daughter on an errand and expected her to return home early but instead, saw her with two men who came to his residence to tell him that his daughter had been defiled.

Shogunle said that the minor did not tell her the names of the men who allegedly defiled her.

During cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr O.O. Ogunjimi, the witness said that she did not find any semen when she examined the survivor.

“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,” Shogunle said.

According to prosecution, Fashola, alongside others at large, committed the offence at 8. 00 p.m. on Sept. 27, 2020, in an uncompleted building at Oluwashina Junction, Itire, Lagos State.

“The defendant and his accomplices had unlawful sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old in the uncompleted building.

“The offences contravene Sections 137 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015,” Abiodun-Muniru said.

Justice Rahman Oshodi adjourned the case until May 6 for continuation of trial. (NAN)