Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court Monday convicted three students for conspiring to gang- rape a cousin of one of them.
The court found them guilty on a two-count charge of criminal conspiracy and rape of the victim (name withheld) at Adangba area of Ilọrin, the Kwara state capital.
The convicts, Omotosho Yahaya, 23, who is the cousin of the victim, Mustapha Ahmed, 23 and 22- year- old Mustapha Ridwan, are students of a tertiary institution in the state.
The first defendant (Omotosho), was said to have invited his two friends to join him in the act while with the victim in the room.
They were sentenced to five years imprisonment for rape and 2 years for criminal conspiracy.
The sentences which include an additional N50,000 fine, are to run concurrently.
Delivering her judgement, Justice Akinpelu held that “The confessional statements of the defendants are clear, unambiguous and equivocal contrary to the argument of their counsel.”
She said, “No woman in her right senses will consent to and allow three men to have sex with her.
“Exhibit 1, (a plank) recovered from the scene of crime attested to the fact that the victim was threatened and raped, coupled with other tests from a government hospital conducted on her,” she submitted.
Though desirable, Akinpelu added that “it is not in all cases that the absence of the victim in court due to certain circumstances can be relied upon to argue a case.”
