An Ikeja Chief Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday remanded a 37-year-old man, Afolabi Shuaib, who is accused of having canal knowledge of a 12-year-old daughter of his neighbour.
Shuaib, who lives at Adebayo Salami Street, Igeshu in Ayobo Area of Lagos, is facing a two-count charge bordering on unlawful sexual assault and defilement.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Chief Magistrate Olufunke Sule-Amzat, who refused the plea of the defendant, ordered that he should be remanded at Kirikiri Correctional Centre, pending legal advice.
Sule-Amzat, who ordered the police to send the case file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), for advice, adjourned the case until April 16.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, ASP. Benson Emuerhi, had told the court that the defendant, sometime in 2019, unlawfully and indecently assaulted the girl at his residence.
“The defendant unlawfully and indecently sexually assaulted the girl by making undue advances toward her.
“He sexually abused and defiled his neighbour’s daughter by forcefully penetrating into her private part,” he said.
He said that the case was reported at Ayobo Police Division by the girl’s mother.
The offences, he said, contravened the provisions of Sections 135 (1) and 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015 and Sections 10 and 27 (1) of the Child’s Rights Law of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2015.
