Court remands barber over alleged defilement of homeless teenager

An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court on Thursday ordered that a 25-year-old man, Emmanuel Eyo, should be remanded over alleged defilement of a 14-year-old.

Magistrate Olufunke Sule-Amzat ordered that Eyo should be kept at the Kirikiri Custodial Centre, Lagos, pending advice from the Lagos State director of public prosecutions.

Sule-Amzat, who did not take the plea of the defendant, adjourned the case until April 23, for mention.

Eyo, who resides on Oyenuga Street, Ijeshatedo, Surulere, Lagos State, was charged with defilement.

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The Prosecutor, ASP Benson Emuerhi, alleged that the defendant committed the offence sometime in October 2017 at his residence.

Emuerhi alleged that Eyo had sexual intercourse with the underage, who ran away from her guardian’s house as a result of maltreatment.

“The defendant took advantage of her homelessness and defiled her,  in contravention of Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015,” he said.

He told the court that a Good Samaritan saw the alleged victim and took her to the Office of the Public Defender, Lagos State Ministry of Justice in Ikeja, where she narrated her ordeal.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that defilement is punishable with up to life imprisonment, under the section.