A medical expert on Friday told an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court that her findings revealed that the two-year and 11-month old pupil of Chrisland School was raped.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oluwatoyin Olayioye was testifying before Justice Sybil Nwaka at the resumed trial of Adegboyega Adenekan, the school supervisor who allegedly raped the child.
The witness, who has been practising medicine for eight years, holds a Bachelors of Medicine, Bachelors of Surgery, a Masters degree of Public Health and is also a trained Forensic Examiner.
Led in evidence by Babajide Boye, the Chief State Counsel, Ms Olayioye, the fifth prosecution witness, said in 2015 to 2016, she was working with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) at the Department of Family Medicine.
“I was consulting for the Mirabel Centre when the case was referred to my team from the Ikeja Police Command on Nov. 24, 2016.
“My team was made up of myself, Dr Oyedeji Alagbe and Dr Olujimi Sodipo. The Mirabel Centre had seen over 2,000 clients and I cannot quote verbatim the number of cases involving minors between ages one to five that I have overseen.
“My Lord, when the child was seen at Mirabel Centre, she said the perpetrator put his wee-wee in her mouth, she said he put his wee-wee in her vagina and that the perpetrator put his mouth on her wee-wee.
“On general examination, we found the female child calm, intelligent, not pale, she was not hot to touch or in any distress and at the time of the examination, she was well hydrated.
“On examination of the child from head to toe, there were no fresh findings relating to the case but in my systematic examination, there were significant findings.”
According to her, the findings included whitish patches in the urethra openings, notches in the hymen, redness on the vulva and pain while touching.
“After exposing the client to the physical examination, the genital area was not in a steady state, along the urethra opening, there were whitish patches which are scaly skin that ought not to be there.
“It could be due to an assault in the vaginal area My Lord, the notches are healed lacerations (wounds), the notches in this client may be due to blunt penetration injury.
“My Lord, when we talk about blunt penetration, it has a pattern in which it descends, the pattern is different from injuries from sharp objects, chemicals or burns.
“Due to the pattern of the notches, we arrived that it should be as a result of blunt penetrative injury which could be due to penile injury, finger or any other blunt object.
“My Lord in the normal state of the vagina, redness is not supposed to be there except in cases of assault,” Olayioye.
The Medical Doctor told the court that mother of the child could not ascertain the time the alleged sexual assault took place.
“I made the conclusion based on the child’s declaration, the mother’s declaration, which were consistent with my clinical findings that it could be due to penile penetration.
“Our findings revealed blunt penetration injuries which could be as a result of penile penetration, finger penetration or blunt force injury.”
Cross-examining the witness, Olatunde Adejuyigbe, the defence counsel, challenged her professional credentials.
The witness admitted that she was not yet a consultant but that she was currently undergoing the training.
She also told the court that she could not remember the name of the foreign doctor who conducted the forensic examiner training which was in affiliation with the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Mirabel Centre and LASUTH.
“The person who trained me is a certified Medical Doctor from St. Mary’s Hospital in the United Kingdom but I cannot remember his name,” she said.
Mr Adejuyigbe also queried the time frame with which the witness carried out the examination claiming that it could have affected the accuracy of the report.
Mr Nwaka adjourned the case until July 4 for continuation of cross-examination of the witness.
NAN reports that Mr Adenekan who was arraigned on January 29, pleaded not guilty to a charge of defilement of a child.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Adenekan committed the offence sometime in November 2016 at Chrisland School, Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lagos.
According to the prosecution, the defendant defiled the child by having unlawful sexual intercourse with her.
The offence violated Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011 which recommends a life sentence for anyone convicted of defiling a child.
(NAN)
