A Kwara State High court on Monday sentenced three students to jail for conspiring to gang rape a 17-year-old who is a cousin of one of the students.
According to Daily Trust, the suspects who were arraigned before Justice Adenine Akinpelu were found guilty on two count of criminal conspiracy and rape of the victim (name witheld) at Adangba area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
The case which started in 2020 finally got a verdict on Monday.
The convicts, Omotosho Yahaya, 23, who is the cousin of the victim, Mustapha Ahmed, 23 and 22-year-old Mustapha Ridwan are students of a tertiary institution in the state.
The first defendant (Omotosho) was said to have invited his two friends to join him in the act while he was with the victim in the room.
Delivering the judgement, Justice Akinpelu held that “The confessional statements of the defendants are clear, unambiguous and equivocal contrary to the argument of their counsel.
“The contents of their statement of the defendant is consistent with other evidences before the court.No Woman in her right senses will consent to and allow three men to have sex with her.
“Exhibit 1, (a plank) recovered from the scene of crime attested to the fact that the victim was threatened and rape coupled with other tests from a government hospital conducted on her.”
Justice Akinpelu sentenced them to five years’ imprisonment for rape and 2 years for criminal conspiracy.
The sentences, which include an additional N50,000 fine, are to run concurrently.
Meanwhile, the Director Office of the Public Defender, Ishola Saka Olofere who defended the first and second defendants, described the judgement as a “good one even though it was against us looking at the industry exhibited by the judge.
“We pleaded with the court to be lenient since the convicts are still young with aged parents and are first offenders,” he added.
