28 year old hairstylist to spend 20 years in prison over rape

The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State has sentence a 28-year-old hairstylist, Tayo Bakare, to 20 years in prison for rape, luring and kidnapping a student on Industrial Training (IT) in one of the media houses in Lagos State.

Penpushing reports that, Bakare was found guilty on Monday of four out of the eight charges of conspiracy, robbery, deprivation of liberty and rape proffered against him by the Lagos State Government, and offences which contravened sections 260(1)(2), 272, 297(1) and 299 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015.

The prosecution, led by Arinola Momoh-Ayokanbi, said the convict  had lured and raped the student (Miss A) and her friend (Miss B) alleging  that he(Bakare) had, sometime in August 2017, lured Miss A to a hotel in Ikotun, Lagos by using Miss A’s friend phone, which he had stolen.

“Unknown to Miss A, she was not chatting with her female friend but the convict. When she got to the hotel room, the convict came into the room and told her that her friend (Miss B) had set her up’.

“He threatened her by saying that he was a member of the ‘Badoo’ cult. The convict beat her, raped her and stole her belongings, which included two mobile phones, ATM cards and N2,000. He locked her in the hotel room and left. Miss A went to the bathroom and alerted a passer-by who helped her to escape,’’ the prosecutor had told the court.

Penpushing further reports that, the prosecutor told the court that Bakare had also lured, kidnapped and raped Miss B and stolen her mobile phone, which was used to lure her friend Miss A to the hotel.

The prosecution during the trial called two witnesses while Bakare testified solely in his defence, while one of the prosecution witnesses told the court that Miss A told her parents about her ordeal who in turn alerted the police.

Penpushing also reports that, the witness told the court that, Bakare was apprehended while he was trying to lure an undercover police officer to the same hotel, but the convict in his own accounts denied raping the two friends, however, admitted having sexual intercourse with them because they were prostitutes.

The trial judge, Justice Abiola  Soladoye while delivering judgement discharged and acquitted the convict on four out of the eight-count charge because Miss B did not come to court to testify about how she was allegedly robbed, kidnapped and raped by the defendant.

Penpushing reports that, the judge, however, found Bakare guilty in respect of counts two, four, six and eight respectively, and thereby sentenced him to ten years in respect of  count two, ten years in respect of count six, and twenty years in respect of count, while the sentences are to run concurrently.

“He shall serve 10-years in respect of count two (conspiracy to commit robbery), 10-years in respect of count four (robbery), 10-years in respect of count six (deprivation of liberty) and twenty-years in respect of count eight (rape). However, these sentences are to run concurrently,’’ Soladoye said