Ex-cop jailed a year after raping and trafficking Lagos teen

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A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has sentenced a retired police officer, Ariwayo Oloyede, alias Oyinbo, to one year in prison for human trafficking.

The ex-policeman was convicted alongside a Nigerian based in Burkina Faso, Christian Owanebi, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for the same offense by Judge Abimbola Awogboro.< /p>

Judge Awogboro sentenced them after finding them guilty of three counts of criminal association and human trafficking, brought against them by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Human Trafficking people.

Delivering judgment on Friday, the judge said the prosecution had proven all charges against the convicts beyond a reasonable doubt.

The judge found the submissions made by the defendant's attorney to be an afterthought.

Judge Awogboro ruled that the first convict, Owanebi, who skipped bail, was sentenced to seven years in prison on all counts.

The judge, however, sentenced the ex-policeman, who she said had consistently shown up to court without fault, to one year in prison on each count.< /p>

She ruled that the jail terms should run concurrently from Friday, when the judgment was delivered.

The convicts were charged with conspiring to procure a 19-year-old girl, Onyinyechi, for prostitution in Burkina Faso.

NAPTIP prosecutor Chinedu Akaegbu told the court that the convicts committed the offenses in November 2012.

Onyinyechi, who testified in court in an emotionally charged voice, recounted how she was lured into prostitution by Oyinbo.

The victim said she was working as a cleaner in the Ajah neighborhood of Lagos when she was approached by Oyinbo who promised to find her a job as a supermarket attendant in Burkina Faso.

She alleged that the suspect charged her 200,000 naira for her travel expenses and to secure her employment, but later reduced the fee to 150,000 naira after she allowed him to leave. have sex with her.< /p>

The victim said he undertook the trip without telling his mother, but when he arrived in Burkina Faso, the suspect grabbed his handset, before handing it to a woman called Madame Eunice , who she alleged was a sex worker.

Onyinyechi said the woman assigned her to a hotel as a prostitute, where she normally resumes at 6 p.m. and closes at midnight.

She alleged that Madame Eunice groomed her for work by lecturing her on how to attract clients, claiming she slept with an average of 10-12 men a day and earned 85,000 CFA per day.

"After a week, Owanebi, who lives with his wife in Burkina Faso, told me that he was going back to Nigeria. He gave me his phone because my phone was given to me. seized pending the time when I would pay the outstanding debt for my travel expenses.

"I asked Owanebi to visit my mother who lives in Lagos to give her some money. Owanebi then promised to call me so that I could speak with my mother,” she added.

The victim further recounted that before leaving Lagos, the two defendants made her swear that if she told anyone, the iron god would kill her.

She alleged that they used palm oil, iron rods, red clothes and a razor to draw blood from her hand and mixed it into her hair to make the concoction.

Onyinyechi said the swearing was done in front of a herbalist.

However, the teenager found the courage to tell her mother what happened.

His mother then called the police to arrest Owanebi and his accomplice.