A High Court in Delta State has sentenced 55-year-old Collins Ika to 60 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl who had been left in his care in Ugolo community, Okpe Local Government Area.
The offences took place between 2021 and 2022.
Delivering judgment in Orerokpe, Justice Joe Egwu also ordered the convict to pay ₦50 million in compensation to the victim.
The court further directed that ₦111,000 brought by the defendant in an attempt to privately settle the case be forfeited to the Delta State Government.
The money was reportedly presented without the knowledge of the complainant, the police, or a human rights activist.
During the trial, the prosecution, led by Phoebian Onomakpome of the Delta State Ministry of Justice, told the court that the girl testified the man repeatedly assaulted her and threatened her to keep silent.
Her mother said she had left the child and her siblings in the care of the defendant, who was their neighbour.
The abuse came to light after the girl complained of ongoing waist pain and later spoke up.
A report was made to the police, and although the suspect initially fled, he was arrested in a sting operation arranged with the help of a human rights activist.
He was reportedly invited for a supposed settlement discussion and apprehended when he arrived with the cash.
During the trial, the defendant denied the allegations and called his wife as his only witness.
In his ruling, Justice Egwu held that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt and accordingly sentenced the defendant to 60 years’ imprisonment, stressing that the judgment should serve as a deterrent to others.
In 2025, an Ekiti State High Court, Ado Ekiti Division, sentenced a 33- year-old man, Olamilekan Ajewole, to life imprisonment for raping a 10-year-old girl.
The charge read, “That the defendants on June 29, 2024, at Ayetoro Ekiti did conspire to rape a 10-year-old girl, contrary to Section 31(2) of the Child’s Rights Law, Cap.C7, Laws of Ekiti State 2012.”
