Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of Ikeja Special Offences Court has sentence Afeez Ogunbowale, a student of the Lagos State University (LASU), to 21 years imprisonment for armed robbery and rape of two fellow LASU students. The judgement was passed on the case on Tuesday, June 29, after the court found Ogunbowale guilty of conspiracy, rape and armed robbery.
On April 18, 2018, Ogunbowale alongside others who are still at large, were said to have raped the students at the Okokomaiko area of Lagos, and he was subsequently suspended by the university. He was arrested after the victims who were in the same faculty with him identified him through Facebook.
Though it was alleged that the suspect confessed to the crime and prostrated to beg for forgiveness when confronted at the police station, he, however, denied involvement in the crime and gave an alibi to the court, claiming that he was in school preparing for an examination which was to begin in May 2018 on the night of the attack.
In a 2019 court testament, the victims stated that they were robbed of their phones, power bank, earpiece, gold chain and N1, 200 by five men but raped by two members of the gang. They further disclosed that they lost their virginities to the attack.
Justice Taiwo while delivering judgement held that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and further noted that the testimony of the victims was compelling.
