By Bisi Onanuga
A student of Lagos State University (LASU) Afeez Ogunbowale was yesterday sentenced to 21 years jail term by an Ikeja Special Offences Court.
Ogunbowale was found guilty of armed robbery and raping two fellow LASU students.
Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo found him guilty of conspiracy, rape and armed robbery.
Taiwo said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“The defendant is hereby sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy, 21 years’ imprisonment each for counts of armed robbery and 21 years’ imprisonment each for counts of rape,” she ruled.
“The sentences are to run concurrently,” she said.
Ogunbowale who was suspended by LASU over the case, wept profusely at the dock on hearing the sentencing.
The prosecution team led by Mrs O.A Bajulaiye-Bishi said the defendant committed the offences alongside others who are at large, on April 18, 2018, at the Okokomaiko area of Lagos.
“The defendant and his accomplices, while armed with a gun, knife, machete and bottle, robbed the two students in their off campus accommodation.
“They were robbed of their phones, power bank, earpiece, gold chain and N1, 200.
“The defendant and one of his accomplices who is still at large had unlawful sexual intercourse with the complainants.
“The offences contravene Sections 260(1) and 297(2)(a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015,” she said.
The witnesses said they were robbed by five men but raped by two members of the gang – Ogunbowale and another – who is at large.
They said that they were able to identify Ogunbowale through Facebook, adding that they belonged to the same faculty.
The complainants testified that when they confronted the convict at a police station, he prostrated and begged for forgiveness.
In his defence on Sept. 30, 2020, the convict denied involvement in the crime and gave an alibi to the court.
Led in evidence by defence counsel, Mr Bisi Salau, he said that on the night the offences were committed, he was in the school premises preparing for an examination which was to begin in May 2018.
