AN Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos State on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, discharged and acquitted a daycare owner, Veronica Vincent, accused of sexually assaulting a one-year-old baby girl in her care.
According to media reports, the daycare owner was charged with a two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration.
The presiding judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo held that there was no evidence to show that defendant sexually assaulted the baby (name withheld) as there was no blood stain on her on the day she was in the care of the defendant, maintaining that the timing of the acclaimed sexual assault and when the mother of the child saw blood differed.
She held: “The issue is not that the child was not violated. The question is when?
“The mother of the child testified that she dropped off her child on February 12, 2019, at the daycare but she saw blood stain on the child three days later.
“The mother did not see blood on February 13 and February 14 and she did not bring the child on these two days. If the child was sexually assaulted on February 12, the blood stain would have been apparent.
“The mother testified that she took the baby to her sister’s house after she picked her up from the daycare on February 12 and three days after the baby had stopped attending the daycare of the defendant, the mother saw blood,”
The Judge said the prosecution has failed to prove that it was the defendant who defiled the child.
Justice Taiwo said: “The evidence before the court shows that while there was a sexual assault on a child of one year and nine months, the prosecution has failed to prove that it was the defendant that defiled her.
“The defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted.”
NAN reports that the state prosecution team, Olakunle Ligali and Omowumi Bajulaye-Bishi, alleged the defendant sexually assaulted the minor by penetrating her with an unknown object.
They submitted that the defendant committed the offences on February 12, 2019, on Ararat Street, Egbeda, Lagos.
