A 23-year-old security guard, Michael Okoi, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for ‘raping’ a 17-year-old girl who was hawking Ọkpa around the Upper Iweka axis in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The judgment was delivered at the Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, where the presiding judge, Justice Peace Otti, convicted and sentenced the accused after he was found guilty on a four-count charge filed against him by the Anambra State Ministry of Justice.
The charges bordered on rape, willful infliction of physical injuries, offensive conduct, and stealing — all committed against a minor, simply identified as Stephanie, on the 11th day of May, 2024, by the convict, at the Enyo Filling Station, along Onitsha–Asaba Expressway, Upper Iweka, Onitsha. To these charges, the convict was arraigned in The State vs. Michael Okoi, with Charge No.: 1/630/2024.
According to the details presented in court, on the said date, May 11, 2024, Michael, who was working as a security guard at the Enyo Filling Station, lured the young hawker into the security house under the pretense of wanting to buy Ọkpa. Then, after receiving his purchase, he told her to come inside to collect her payment. Unknown to the girl that it was a trap, the young girl innocently obliged. And immediately she got there, Michael called his friend and colleague to show off his gun, with which intimidated the girl, and ordered her to climb upstairs into the security house, where he then forced her to undress and lie down on a mat. And then, he defiled her.
Medical reports submitted in court confirmed that the girl sustained multiple tears and bruises in both her vagina and anus — clear evidence that corroborated her testimony and exposed the brutality of the assault.
During the trial on Thursday, June 19, 2025, the accused claimed that the sexual intercourse was consensual, stating that they “talked, kissed, and made love.”
However, the court firmly dismissed the argument, and upheld the legal position that a 17-year-old child is incapable of giving valid sexual consent, regardless of perceived willingness. Justice Peace Otti ruled that, as a 17-year-old girl, the victim is considered a child under the law and therefore incapable of giving sexual consent, regardless of the accused’s perception or claims.
Citing Section 34 of the Child Rights Law of Anambra State 2004 (Law No. 3004), the judge emphasized that it was immaterial whether the accused believed the girl had consented or appeared to be above the age of a child. The law, she said, protects minors unequivocally and considers them incapable of giving sexual consent under any circumstance.
When asked to plead allocutus (to explain why he should be given a lighter sentence), the convict insisted he did not commit the offence. However, the judge recalled that the accused had earlier confessed to the crime at the police station and even asked the police to plead with the victim to forgive him. His contradictory stance in court further discredited his defence.
Condemning the convict’s actions as “sickening, frightening, and wicked,” Justice Otti ruled that such brazenness and cruelty must not be tolerated in any sane society. Consequently, she therefore sentenced him to life imprisonment on Count 1 (rape), and imposed a fine of ₦200,000 each on Counts 2 (inflicting injury) and 3 (offensive conduct). However, Count 4 (stealing the victim’s ₦8,000 sales money) was struck out due to inconsistencies in testimonies.
While it was gathered that the victim was still a virgin prior to the incident, the court also upheld the statement by the investigating police officer, who noted that the security guard wickedly took advantage of the vulnerability of the young hawker and her survival struggle in a harsh economic environment to brazenly “ravage her womanhood.”
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