LAGOS - A 10-year-old primary four pupil has told
the police how her teacher, Adeniran Adebayo, allegedly took advantage of her
and defiled her inside the school toilet.
The victim said her health teacher threatened to
flog her if she made a noise while he had sex with her in the toilet. She said
one of the female teachers in the school, however, heard her cry and barged
into the toilet, forcing Adebayo, a father of two, to stop and hurriedly dress
up.
The incident happened at a private school on
Olateju Ilesanmi Street, Baruwa, Ipaja area of Lagos.
Narrating the incident to a Lagos State Chief
Magistrate’s Court at Ebute Meta on Wednesday, the Investigating Police Officer
from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, said the victim
repeated the account three different times. He said, “I interviewed the victim
after the matter was brought to the SCID. She said on the fateful day, she was
in school after the closing hours and was waiting for her younger brother, who
attended the same school, so they could go back home together. “While waiting,
she decided to get busy with her assignments. She said it was while she was
doing the assignment that the teacher came and said she should follow him. “He
then took her to a toilet within the school premises and threatened to cane her
if she screamed, unzipped himself, undressed the pupil and made love to her.
“The girl said she was crying while this was on. It was a female teacher, who
was passing by that heard her cry. The female teacher came closer to have a
better look and immediately the suspect saw her, he quickly zipped up. The
pupil said the female teacher told him that being a teacher, he should never
have taken advantage of the girl.”
The police officer said after the victim repeatedly
affirmed the account, he decided to call the supposed witness. “When I called
her and interviewed her, she said she didn’t see anything. I called the girl
again, and she narrated the same story to me,” he added.
The Chief Magistrate, O.O. Olatunji asked the
defendant if the story was true. Adebayo said, “I am the health teacher of the
school. I married five years ago, and have two sons. There are six male
teachers in the school. On that day, I didn’t call the girl. I only stood at
the gate and asked her and her brother to go home. That was all. “I was
surprised that after four days, they came to my office and arrested me. The
toilet in question has never even been used by anybody.”
The chief magistrate in his reaction said the
account of the suspect was not credible. “Kids hardly lie, especially when they
are between the ages of six to 11. And that’s why I find it hard to believe the
account of the defendant. People like you should not be in the society. If like
you said, there were six male teachers in your school, why did she decide to
pick only you? It’s such a big shame,” he said.
Present in the court were the victim and her
father. The school management was not represented.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Etim Nkankuk, had
asked the court to remand the suspect in prison pending the release of legal
advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
Nkankuk had said the crime was regrettable because
it happened within the school premises “where the character of the victim was
supposed to be developed and built.”
He said the victim sustained injuries in the course
of the act. The defence counsel, Olaitan Olabode, had insisted that the alleged
offence was bailable. Olatunji, in his rulling said, “The defendant is granted
bail in the sum of N300,000 with two sureties in like sum. The sureties should
also deposit the sum of N50,000 into the account of the Chief Registrar. “One
of the sureties must be a blood relation of the defendant. The case file should
hastily be duplicated for legal advice from the DPP. “Meanwhile, the defendant
is ordered to be remanded in prison, pending the perfection of his bail terms.”
The matter was adjourned till October 15, 2014.
Source: Punch
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