The 21-year-old caregiver, Godwin Onuminya, has been charged to court for sexually molesting a 14-year-old granddaughter of his employer.
An Investigating Police Officer, Mary Okoi, told Kubwa Division of the FCT High Court, that Mr Onuminya confessed to raping his boss’ 14-year-old granddaughter.
Ms Okoi, attached to State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), FCT Command, stated while being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Adama Musa.
She said a case of rape was transferred from the Kubwa divisional police headquarters and referred to her department where the defendant was rearrested on November 8, 2019.
Ms Okoi said:
The statement of the complainants, witnesses and the 14-year-old girl were recorded. The statement of the defendant was also recorded under caution, in the presence of his elder brother who is a policeman.
The defendant confessed to committing the crime in his statement and afterwards we proceeded to the crime scene where we recovered the exhibits which are the 14-year-old girl’s pants and pink trouser stained with blood.
She expressed that the exhibits were tied in a leather bag and she proceeded to the police hospital where the girl was examined.
Ms Okoi expressed;
The doctor saw the injuries sustained by the victim and issued a medical report which was attached to the case file and sent to the Kubwa police station and then forwarded to my station.
In the course of the investigation, I discovered that the girl fainted on the day she was raped and the defendant confessed that he overpowered her and raped her.
The defendant’s statement and the blood-stained trouser and underwear were tendered as exhibits in court.
However, the defence counsel, Abu Adaweno, objected saying the defendant’s statement was not voluntarily made and added that there was no lawyer present. He, however, applied for a trial-within-trial.
Justice Kezziah Ogbonnaya adjourned the matter until November 8 for a trial-within-trial.
The trial-within-trial is a mini-trial within the context of the main trial. It is a procedure in criminal law wherein the confessional statement of an accused person is subjected to trial scrutiny to determine whether or not the statement was freely and voluntarily made by the accused person to the police.
Via NAN.
