Court grants bail to a man alleged of raping his customer
Olaoluwa Folalu
A 31-year-old man, who allegedly raped his customer was on Wednesday arraigned at an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court and granted bail.
The accused, Obinna Ezechukwu, who is a tricycle operator and a resident of 1, Olusegun Close, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, is facing a three-count charge of obtaining by false pretence, stealing and rape.
According to the prosecutor of the case, Insp. Rachael Williams, while reading charges preferred against the accused person, the offences were committed on July 9, 2015, at the residence of the accused.
The accused said to have been picking the victim every day from the bus stop to her place of work and there and then promised to get her an apartment.
With the promise, according to the charge, the accused collected N30,000 pretending he was securing one of the vacant rooms in his compound for the victim.
The accused thereafter, invited the victim to his house under the pretext that he wanted his customer to meet the landlord.
However, the prosecutor read: “On getting to the home of the accused, he offered her a drink and that was how she slept off and when she woke up, she found herself that she had been raped and naked”.
She also informed the court that the victim was 23 years old and that the offences contravened Sections 258(1), 285 and 312(a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The accused pleaded not guilty.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr Tajudeen Elias, thereafter granted the accused bail of N200,000, with two sureties each in like sum and subsequently adjourned the case to Aug. 18.