An Ado Ekiti High Court on Monday sentenced a 45-year-old commercial driver, Lawrence Adedapo, to seven years imprisonment for raping an 80-year-old woman, Madam Grace Asaolu.
The sentence on Adedapo has brought to five the number of persons convicted for the offence in the last two years in the area with one of them bagging life sentence.
Before his sentence on Monday, the Presiding Justice Dele Omotoso said he convicted Adedapo based on evidence before the court which showed that the driver forcefully had carnal knowledge of the old woman and was guilty as charged.
According to the court, the convict sexually assaulted the octogenarian on November 7, 2013 at Oke Erimope Street, Ogbese, Ise-Ekiti and was subsequently charged to court.
In the course of the trial, Adedapo was said to have pleaded not guilty to the charge and gave evidence in his own defence, but called no witness to back his claims.
In his testimony, Adedapo, who described the old woman as his “mother as well as his concubine” whom he had been dating as far back as his bachelor days, claimed that Asaolu framed him up.
He claimed that the old woman had earlier approached him for a sum of money to travel to her village, but on that date, she walked into his room and demanded for the money.
The driver claimed that the old woman started romancing him which eventually led to a sexual intercourse after he had given her N1,000.
The prosecution, led by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi, gave evidence that the convict confessed to have been dating the woman before the incident and that she consented to the sexual intercourse.
Ajayi tendered the blood-stained clothes of the victim which was recovered from the scene of the incident.
The trial judge resolved all issues in determination against Adedapo and consequently sentenced him to a jail term of seven years for having unlawful carnal knowledge of the old woman.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
