Court sends father to 14 years in jail for raping, impregnating daughter in Bayelsa

A Bayelsa state high court has sentenced Baridapsi Needam to 14 years imprisonment for raping and impregnating his daughter.

Pere Egbuson, the lead prosecutor, told the court that 41-year-old Needam started abusing his daughter when she was seven years old.

Egbuson added that Needam defiled his daughter by inserting his fingers into her private part before having carnal knowledge of her in 2020 when she got pregnant.

NAN reports that the victim gave birth to a baby girl during the pendency of the trial.

In the ruling on Saturday, D.E. Adokeme, the presiding judge, held that the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Needam committed the offence of rape.

Adokeme ruled that the DNA result evidence presented by the prosecution, which revealed a 99.99 percent positive, proved that the convict was the father of the victim’s child.

Briyal Dambo, the commissioner for justice and attorney-general in the state, charged Needam with the offence of rape contrary to section 1(1) of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Law of Bayelsa state, 2021, in a suit numbered YHC/14C/2022.

Egbuson thanked the commissioner for supporting the DNA analysis that aided the prosecution’s case.

He added that the judgment would serve as a deterrent to others who engage in such “unimaginable acts”.

Reacting to the judgment, Dise Ogbise-Goddy Harry, founder of the Do Foundation, commended the court for ensuring justice.

“The state government, through the ministry of justice, the ministry of women affairs, children affairs, and social development, and the Bayelsa state gender response initiative team, have done well by keeping the victim and the baby safe,” Harry said.

“This should sound as a warning to all paedophiles to steer clear of our children.”

The Bayelsa State Gender Response Initiative Team (GRIT) handed Needman to the police in 2022 after a neighbour discovered that he was responsible for his daughter’s pregnancy.