Journalist in court for raping Corps member

A broadcast journalist who is said to be working with Cool FM in Lagos, Segun Otun, has been dragged before the Ogudu Magistrates’ Court, for allegedly raping a 22-year-old member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), at his residence, 8, Ogunaike Street, Shangisha, Ketu, The Guardian reports.

According to the reports, the 27-year-old Otun forcefully had carnal knowledge of the lady in his apartment while threatening to kill her with a cutlass on November 23, an offense that contravene sections 258, 170 and 56 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, with section 258 stipulating life imprisonment for offenders.

Apart from the rape charge hanging on Otun's head before Magistrate O. Sule Hamzat, he also faced another two-count charge of assault and threat to life.

The police prosecutor, Sergeant Lucky Ihiehie, the lady name the report of the rape at the Area F Police Command in Ikeja, on November 24, and on November 26, the Area F Command transferred the case to the Area H Police Command, Ogudu.

“On November 24, the complainant a 22-year-old, name and address withheld, who had just completed her NYSC programme, came with a written petition to the command against the defendant, her former schoolmate.

According to the complainants’ statement to the police, she had met the defendant sometime in January and he asked her for friendship. She said that after much pressure from the defendant, they started dating online before she later broke up with him.

On November 23, she went with her friends to Magodo in the Shangisha area and that’s where the defendant sighted her again. He came to her and her friends and excused her for a discussion which the complainant obliged to, based on the fact that they were former schoolmates and had not been in touch for a while.

They both went to the defendant's house which is in the same area. When they got to his house, the complainant waited in his sitting room, while the defendant went to have his bath and came out with only a towel.

He then asked the complainant why she had broken up with him and she replied that she had found out that he was dating her sister. He then replied that it wasn’t true, that they were only friends and went into his room only to come out with a cutlass.

The defendant then threatened the complainant, saying that if she refused him to have sex with her, he would injure her.

The defendant then assaulted the complainant by dragging her by her trouser, carried her to his room, forcefully tore her zip after struggling with her, and pushed her to the bed and had sex with her without her consent.

When he was done with her, the complainant was in tears while the defendant pleaded for forgiveness for his actions."

When the charges were read to him, Otun pleaded not guilty and the magistrate granted him bail in the sum N200, 000, and while adjourning the case to January 27, 2016.