A 30-year-old divorcee, on Thursday, lost her bid to send her lover to jail for alleged rape as the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja discharged and acquitted the lover, Yusuf Quadri.
Justice Abiola Soladoye discharged and acquitted 26-year-old Quadri of the one count of rape preferred against him.
It was gathered that Quadri and the supposed victim were teachers at a school in the Ikotun area of the state.
The prosecutor, Fehinti Ogbemudia, had alleged that Quadri raped the divorcee in her residence at the Ikotun area of Lagos on September 24, 2017.
During the trial, the supposed victim told the court that Quadri had come to collect his bag from her house when the incident happened, adding that he gave her potash and salt water to drink after the alleged rape to avoid her getting pregnant.
She said, “One Friday, sometime in September 2017, the defendant came to my class and told me to help him keep his bag on the pretext that he had an interview and did not want to keep it in school over the weekend. I took the bag home and called him on Sunday when he did not show up to claim it.
“He later came to my house that Sunday with one of his friends, who later left us alone, and I asked him to help me put on the generator and he thereafter locked all the doors to the house, kept the keys, tore my pants and my wrapper and raped me. I kept screaming but nobody heard me.
“When I expressed displeasure that he had ejaculated inside me and I might become pregnant, he asked if I had potash and salt. He asked me to take the potash and salt mixed in water and I did, then he left my house.
“I reported to the owner of the school, who apologised to me, and also at the Ikotun Police Station.”
Quadri, however, told the court in his defence that he shared a romantic relationship with the victim and that they had countless sexual encounters.
He added that they started an affair after the supposed victim claimed that her marriage had crashed as a result of her husband’s infidelity.
He said, “I met her when I was newly-employed by the school. She was so nice to me; we became friends and she showed me around the school.
“On the day of the incident, she called me to come and help her put on her generator and I obliged. When I arrived, she served me a soft drink and cake, and showed me her marriage pictures, which she later tore in my presence. She told me that her marriage crashed because her husband had an affair with another woman.
“She told me that her husband married her as a virgin but could not satisfy her in bed. And she asked if I could satisfy her and we then had sex. She got angry that I ejaculated inside her but I calmed her down.
“I told her to mix salt and potash with warm water, which she drank and I left her house. We had sexual intercourse countless times after that day.
“But one day, she heard me talking to a girl on the telephone and began shouting that I lied to her that I didn’t have a girlfriend. I told her that I had a girlfriend before I met her and that she was already married. She then attacked me and bit my neck and I ran away.”
Delivering her judgment on Thursday, Justice Soladoye held that the matter was a case of friendship that simply went sour, adding that the evidence of the supposed victim was neither compelling nor cogent.
She added that the allegation was an attempt of a lover seeking revenge on her partner and discharge and acquitted Quadri.