Two female students of the University of Lagos had contrasting experiences on Monday, when their cases against a rapist, John Otema, was decided at an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.
The students, codenamed Student X and Student Y for protection, were sexually assaulted by Otema, an alumnus of the institution, in 2018.
While the Judge, Justice Abiola Soladoye, upheld the case of Student X and sentenced the accused to 50 years in prison, she knocked student Y for noting in her testimony that she demanded money from the man.
In absolving Otema of raping student Y, Justice Soladoye noted that the demeanour of student Y in her testimony was mischievous and she would not have claimed that she was raped if Otema had paid her the N50, 000 agreed upon before their rendezvous.
The judge quoted a portion of student Y’s testimony which stated,“With intention to scare him off, I asked him for N100,000 but he said he would give me N50,000.
“I gave him my account number but he did not credit my account. Friendship with benefits was the crux of our relationship.”
As the News Agency of Nigeria reports, the judge described student Y as a game player who had embarked on a sexual frolic.
“The defendant, John Osagie Otema, in respect of count-one (rape) is found not guilty as there is overwhelming evidence before the court that sexual intercourse between the defendant and PW2 (Student Y) was consensual as it was friendship with benefits,” she said.
However, 34-year-old Otema, a quantity surveyor and facilities manager, who was charged before Justice Soladoye with three counts of rape and assault occasioning harm on two female students, was however sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for raping Student X.
He was found guilty on two-counts of rape and assault occasioning harm in respect of the rape of the 19-year-old student (Student X).
He bagged 50-years in prison for the rape and three-years in prison for the assault on student X with both sentences to run concurently.
