Court sentences teacher to life imprisonment for defiling six-year-old pupil
Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and sentenced a teacher identified as Chukwu Ndubuisi to life imprisonment for defiling his six-year-old pupil at Mind Builders School, Lagos.
Ndubuisi who was the school’s art teacher was found guilty of a one-count charge of child defilement brought against him by the state government.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Justice Ogunsanya in her judgment held that the prosecution has proved his case against the defendant beyond all reasonable doubts as the fact, circumstances and quality of evidence against the defendant were compelling.
The judge noted that the first time the survivor told her mother of her experience was on the day she was discussing the case of a seven-year-old girl that was defiled and killed and which went viral.
The court pointed out that they went outside and the survivor narrated her experience to her, pleaded with her mother not to tell her father and brother.
The court noted that the mother told the father, following which they went to her school but the art teacher was not around.
She noted that the parents reported the matter at Omole Police station, following which the case was investigated, and a test was conducted on the survivor at Ikosi Health Centre, which revealed that the survivor had been defiled.
She said the matter was later taken up by the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA).
Justice Ogunsanya held that the account of the survivor and her mother were uncontroverted, corroborated each other and gave an excellent account of the assault.
The court noted that the defendant usually send the survivor’s friend to call her and that the first time the defendant defiled her was in the female toilet, and that the second time was in the art room.
She said the survivor told the court that sometimes her teacher (defendant) asked her to remove her uniform and he then put his “bumbum” into her “bumbum”, but another time, he called her into the art room, put her on the table, parted her panties and put his thing into my thing”.
The court further noted that the survivor testified that when the defendant is finished, he will clean up the survivor with tissue paper.
The court noted that the defendant had unhindered access to the child and defiled her several times.
Justice Ogunsanya discountenances evidence of two prosecution witnesses who are medical doctors for being contradictory, pointing out that they did not come as expert witnesses.
The judge also dismissed the submission by defence witnesses that the incident was not recorded on the school’s CCTV.
The court upheld the result of the test conducted at the Mirabel Center which showed that the survivor had torn hymen and reddish vulva and that there was evidence of forceful penetration.
She, therefore, convicted the defendant as charged.
Counsel to the defendant, O.C. Olagunju pleaded with the court passionately to temper justice with mercy, saying that no improper behaviour had been brought against the defendant, nor had he ever had any case with the police until this incident.
But the prosecution, Jubril Kareem, argued that the law under which the defendant was charged does not give the court any discretion.
He urged the court to impose the mandatory sentence stipulated in the law.
Justice Ogunsanya subsequently sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment.
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