Doctor testifies in trial of suspect who gangraped 13-year-old girl with six other men in Lagos

A medical doctor, Dr Mistura Shogunle has narrated before an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court how a 13-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by seven men in her neighbourhood.

The doctor was testifying in the trial of one of the seven men who gang-raped the teenager. The suspect, a 20-year-old fashion designer, Rasheed Fashola, is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and defilement of a child.

Tribune reported that Dr Sogunle who was led in evidence by the state prosecutor, Mrs Olasunbo Abiodun-Muniru, said that the survivor came seeking medical attention on Sept. 28, 2020, a day after she was allegedly defiled.

“The client said that on Sept. 27, 2020, which was a Sunday, her father sent her on an errand and seven boys in the neighbourhood stopped her,” said the medical doctor who works at the Mirabel Centre (a sexual assault referral centre).

They dragged her into an uncompleted building, her mouth was covered with a handkerchief and they took turns to rape her through unprotected penile intercourse into her vagina” Shogunle said.

The doctor noted that the survivor was calm and clinically stable during the medical examination and that she had no obvious physical injuries on the child.

“There were however significant genital findings. The labia majora was normal while the labia minora (inner lips of the genital) had a resolving bruise.

“The natural covering of the vagina called the hymen was absent. There were no significant anal findings.

The general findings are in keeping with recent blunt force penetration into her vagina which could have been caused by penile vagina penetration as declared verbally by the client” she said.

The doctor also a certified forensic sexual assault examiner, noted in her testimony that she had asked the survivor’s father who had accompanied her to throw more light on what had happened to his daughter.

She said the father informed her that he had sent his daughter on an errand and had expected her to return home early but instead, saw her with two men who came to the family home to tell him that his daughter had been defiled.

The doctor in her evidence said that the survivor did not reveal to her the names of the men who allegedly defiled her.

During cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr O.O Ogunjimi, the witness said that she did not find any semen when the survivor was medically examined.

“It was not the day the incident happened that the client visited the Mirabel Centre. The client did not tell me whether she had taken her bath or not. I also got a voluntary history of what happened from her” Shogunle said.

According to the prosecution, Falana alongside others who are now at large committed the offence at 8 pm on Sept. 27, 2020, in an uncompleted building around Oluwashina Junction, Itire, Lagos.

“The defendant and his accomplices had unlawful sexual intercourse with the 13-year-old minor in the uncompleted building.

“The offences contravene Sections 137 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015,” Abiodun-Muniru said.

Justice Rahman Oshodi thereafter adjourned the case until May 6 for the continuation of trial.