Six years after he committed the crime, a
teacher at the Delta Career College, Warri is sentenced by an Effurun High
Court to 14 years’ jail term for a minor’s rape.
On Tuesday September 23, 2008, Grace Ese (not
her complete names), a single mother, kissed her daughter goodbye as she left
home for Delta Career College, Warri, Delta State, one of the pioneer private
schools in the Southsouth.
The school has a reputation built over three
decades as a trailblazer in its field. The founder and principal of the school,
a seasoned educationist, Mr Emmanuel Ukeredi, takes pride in the school, whose
motto is “Purposeful Education is only the best”.
It was because of that status that Ms Ese sent
her daughter to the school. The child is a bright and promising girl. Her
steady progress in her education made her mother hopeful that by the time she
clocks 15, she would graduate and probably go on to become one of Nigeria’s
youngest doctorate degree holder.
It was a dream mother and daughter shared.
Having being forced to abandon her own pursuit of higher education when she got
pregnant with the child, Ms Ese was hoping to achieve, through her daughter,
her quest for higher education and a better future. She confided in our reporter
that she conceived the child after her man she thought was her ‘Christian
brother’ took advantage of her and then abandoned her when she got pregnant.
She said: “I was doing my higher education when
I got pregnant and I had to stop school because of her. I couldn’t take care of
myself, the pregnancy and then the child. I had to stop because the father did
not support me. When I went to my family, they did not support me because they
felt the child’s father should help me. I sold akara (bean cake) to cater for
her and I begged on the streets to sustain my child.”
Ten years after her own ordeal – on September
23, 2008 – Ms Ese was forced to relive the horror all over again when a
35-year-old school teacher at the famous college, Mr Godwin Onoyiwai was
accused of raping the child she loves and sacrifices so much for. Onoyiwai is a
Fine Arts teacher of the school; he was employed to teach young children like
the nine-year-old victim to appreciate and recreate the beauty of nature and
everything around them. Instead he reportedly etched lines of pain, trauma and
stigma that might have scarred the child and her mother for the rest of their
lives.
Reconstructing the event that took place in the
school’s premises six years ago, Ms Ese said the teacher lured her daughter
into his office in a secluded part of the expansive school premises located on
Airport Road in the Oil City and repeatedly violated her child until he got
released from his satanic urge.
“He locked the door, asked her to open her
legs. He said he wanted to show her something (in between her legs). She (the
child) said, ‘no, tell me; when I get home I will look at it.’ He said ‘No’.
“Then he forced her, pulled her dress, her
boxers – because being a girl I ensure she wears boxers in case she opens her
legs – her pant. He put her on the floor and when she was screaming he held her
mouth. She was telling him, ‘My mummy said nobody should play this kind of play
with me o. If my mummy finds out she will beat me oo’.
“He said, ‘No, your mummy will not find out’.
He forced himself on her, continuously until he released.
“After he raped her, she was bleeding and there
was blood on the floor. When he saw that she was bleeding, he asked her to put
on her pant, clothes and gave her bucket to go and get water. He gave her mop
(stick) and asked her to mop the floor and put the blood into the bucket. That
she did. Her pant was already stained; she was wearing it like that.
She went to another student, a boarding
student, who gave her peg and soap to wash her pant and hang it to dry in the
school,” her eyes filled with tears as she replayed the scene from her
daughter’s account. The report of the indecent act shocked the city, not even
the medical staff who examined the child could hold back the jolt. One of the
two doctors, who examined the child at the Warri General Hospital, described
the rapist as “a very wicked and heartless person.”
However, Mr Ukeredi and other members of staff
of Delta Career College took the allegation with a pinch of salt and even
strongly debunked it. Shortly after The Nation broke the news on September 29,
2008, the management of the school accused the mother of blackmail and attempt
to extort money from the school. It was gathered that the authority of the
college stormed the “A” Division Police Station, where the suspect was being
held, claiming the he was a victim of the child’s mothers ploy to extort money
from the school. The school’s proprietor stood by his employee, insisting that
he is innocent. Police detective handling the investigation were also tainted
by the brush of scandal. First, sources close to the suspect claimed that the
Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and some policemen at the station demanded for
gratification to “kill” the case.
Similarly, the child’s mother told our reporter
that a Commissioner of Police in the state was forced to transfer one of the
investigating officers after he demanded N5,000 from her to facilitate the
movement of the file to the state headquarters in Asaba.
Independent investigations by Niger Delta
Report revealed that prior to the unfortunate incident, the relationship
between Ms Ese and the management of the private school had deteriorated. It
was gathered that the latter was unhappy about what they perceived as the
woman’s meddlesomeness.
“The woman was always complaining about one
thing or the other, especially with the running of the school. At a point, some
of us were already saying that she should take her daughter away if she was not
satisfied with the way the school was being run and that was when this matter
started,” a staff of the college told this reporter on condition of anonymity.
When Niger Delta Report asked Ms Ese about this
dimension to the incident, she confirmed that she had been forced to demand
better performance from some teachers and other staff of the school when she
noticed perceived failing.
“That is no reason why they should pay me back
by raping my daughter,” she said.
As the case dragged on, the relationship
between the parent and school degenerated further. Ms Ese accused the school of
throwing everything at her in a desperate bid to force her to give up on her
quest for justice. She disclosed that the case file got missing twice at the
Police Headquarters in Asaba and the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP’s)
office.
“There was a time I was so afraid that the
power of the school would supersede me – their power, money and influence. The
man told me to my face that he has kept N20m to fight me. Can I produce one
percent of that N20m?”
In court, the teacher denied the charge against
him. He said he went outside the gate to eat with his colleague, Edafe. He
claimed they had invigilated the GCE exams and he was heading towards the boys’
hostel when he saw the girl in front of the boys’ hostel. She was in the midst
of other students playing, he said. He claimed they later saw her wandering
around the boys’ hotel. He said they called her to ask what she was looking for
around the boys’ hostel and she told them that she lost her bag.
He said he was forced to confess committing the
crime, adding that he told the DPO that he didn’t commit the crime. He said he
spent 16 days at the police station and was kept in the cell.
He accused the child’s mother of threatening to
close the school if she was not paid N16 million.
The judge did not believe him. The highly
respected Justice P. O. Onajite-Kuejubola of the Effurun High Court mid last
month ruled that the evidence before the court was overwhelming and proved the
Fine Arts teacher was guilty of raping the nine-year old child. The teacher was
sentenced to 14 years in jail.
Justice Onajite-Kuejubola said: “The defence
put up by the accused is merely a shame defence; which is incapable of belief
by any stretch of imagination in the face of cogent, credible evidence led by
the PW1,
the victim, supported by that of IPO, PW4, PW3,
the medical doctor and PW2, the mother of the victim.
“…The offence of rape, where the commission of
the crime is proved beyond reasonable doubt, is no doubt a wicked, callous and
dastardly act.
Particularly in this case where a teacher like
the accused person who is expected to be a guide, over a child like the victim
herein, takes advantage of her. I want to condemn the act of the accused person
very strongly and urge teachers whom parents look up to take care of their
wards, who are sent to learn and by so doing repose some amount of confidence
in such teachers, not to betray that trust and hope.
“The entire circumstance of this case has been
carefully considered in arriving at this decision so as to ensure that the
innocent are not punished and the guilty set free. The accused is found guilty
as charged.
“The accused is hereby sentenced to 14 years
imprisonment with hard labour.”
Ms Ese, who said she was not totally satisfied
with the sentence, praised the DPP and Justice Onajite- Kuejubola. She was
expecting a life sentence. She expressed the hope that it would serve as
deterrent to randy school teachers who plan to take advantage of young pupil
and student in their care.
"WE ARE SHOCKED; WE WILL APPEAL"
The school’s principal, did not want to speak
about the ruling when our reporter called him. He said an official statement
would be issued by the school.
At the time of this report, the official
statement he promised was yet to be released.
He, however, gave a hint of the feeling of the
management of the institution about the development. When he was informed that
Ms Ese had made certain serious allegations that the school made attempts to
sweep the matter under the carpet, Ukeredi said the allegations were unfounded,
adding that the school’s statement would say its side of the story.
An interesting part of the story, however, is
the fact that the school still maintains its stance on Onoyiwai’s innocence.
According to the principal, the judgment shocked the school and the management
had instructed its counsel to file an appeal.
“We have instructed our lawyers to appeal. You
can have interview with her (mother of the victim).
Whatever porous allegations she made
notwithstanding, I’m telling you that we were dumbfounded by the judgment and
we have given instructions to our lawyers to appeal. If you see our press
release, you will see the school’s own part of the story,” Ukeredi said.
The last certainly has not been heard of this
matter.
Source: The Nation
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