Lagos court sentences student to 21-year jail term for sexual assault 

Justice Abiola Soladoye of a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, yesterday, sentenced a 32-year-old student, Essien Aniedi-Bassey, to 21 years imprisonment for attempted sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl.
 
Aniedi-Bassey was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault by penetration and indecent treatment of a child.
 
The charge was brought against him by the state government.
 
During trial, the prosecution counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade, called two witnesses, the survivor and an Investigative Police Officer (IPO), before the convict opted for a plea bargain agreement.
 
The prosecution had told the court that the convict committed the offence sometime in August 2017 at Araromi Valley Estate in Ojodu, Lagos.

She said that the convict attempted to defile a minor and indecently treated the survivor by touching her breasts.
 
The prosecution said his offence contravened Sections 135 and 262 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State (2015).

Justice Soladoye found him guilty as pleaded and affirmed the plea bargain agreement.

She sentenced him to 21 years imprisonment and ordered that “the combined term of the 21 years imprisonment shall begin from March 23, 2018.”