The Akwa State High Court, Uyo, on Wednesday sentenced a 23-year-old man, Iniobong Moses, to life imprisonment for defiling his three-year-old step-daughter.

Justice Okon Okon, who gave the verdict, described the convict as “a disgrace to humanity whose conduct fell abysmally below that of beasts.”

In his confession statement to the court, the convict said he was under the influence of alcohol.

Moses told the court that he defiled the infant by putting his fingers and penis into her private part on November 8, 2019, when his wife left for the market.

However, the judge said drunkenness was not an “exculpatory defence in law for the commission of a crime especially when it was self-inflicted.”

“The convict deserves to be put away for a long time from public glare to save innocent children from being further brutalized and ravished by him,” he added.

Moses was arraigned by the police last year.

A medical report presented by police in court showed a history of abnormal vaginal discharge and wound on the victim’s labium.

These, according to the report, were caused by sexual assault.