An Akwa Ibom State high court sitting in Uyo has jailed a 45-year-old civil servant, Uduakabasi Oku Edet, for raping his 14-year-old daughter.
Edet, an indigene of Ikot Ekpene village in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of the state, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
The convict repeatedly assaulted and raped his daughter five times between July 2018 and October 2019 in his Uyo residence.
It was learnt that on one of such occasions, the convict had anal sex with the victim which caused her difficulty in defecating, and also inserted his finger into his daughter’s private parts when she once returned from school for holidays.
The convict was also accused of flogging and stabbing the victim on the head with a knife for taking food from the kitchen to eat without the permission of her stepmother.
The victim told the court that after her father raped her, she started experiencing pains in her private parts, her breasts became swollen, and she started noticing brown and black discharge coming out from her private parts.
Respite however came the way of the victim when the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) reported the matter to the police.
The convict was on trial for a two-count charge of rape punishable under Section 367, and assault occasioning harm, under Section 364 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Volume Two, Laws of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, 2000.
In his judgment, the trial judge, Justice Bassey Nkanang, found Edet guilty of rape and accordingly convicted him.
“The defendant is hereby sentenced to 14 years imprisonment and same shall be computed from and including the 10th of October, 2019 when the defendant was arrested till and including 3rd March, 2022 when the defendant was admitted to bail by this Court.
“Upon reckoning with the afore stated period, the computation of the sentence shall commence today till the entire term is completed. This is the judgement of this Court in this case,” the judge held.
