A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a former teacher, Nwatu Isaac, to life imprisonment for defiling an eight-year-old pupil at El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School, Epe.
Justice Rahman Oshodi convicted Isaac after finding that the prosecution established beyond reasonable doubt that he had sexual intercourse with the child on March 10, 2022.
The court also ordered that Isaac’s name be entered in the Sex Offenders Register in line with Sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law 2021.
Isaac was prosecuted under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which provides for life imprisonment for unlawful sexual intercourse with a child.
In his judgment, Justice Oshodi held that the prosecution proved the two essential elements of the offence: that the victim was a child and that Isaac had sexual intercourse with her.
The judge rejected Isaac’s claim that he had remained outside the school premises on the day of the incident.
Isaac had told the court that he visited the school to pick up pupils he transported on his motorcycle but stayed at the gate.
Justice Oshodi said Isaac’s own testimony placed him at the school at the relevant time, while the victim identified him as the person who took her into the toilet.
“On the convict’s own admission, he was not at a considerable distance from the scene. He was at its gate,” the judge held.
“The prosecutrix’s evidence places him inside the premises. The defence of alibi therefore does not avail him.”
The court found the victim’s testimony credible and consistent.
She was nine years old when she testified and identified Isaac, whom she knew as “Master Isaac”, as the person who took her into the school toilet and sexually assaulted her.
Justice Oshodi said the girl gave a clear, detailed and coherent account that remained consistent during lengthy cross-examination.
Her testimony was also corroborated by evidence from her mother, who told the court that she observed blood on her daughter’s underwear and vagina after the child returned home from school.
Medical evidence presented by a doctor who examined the girl at Mirabel Centre also supported the prosecution’s case.
According to the judge, the examination revealed an easily dilatable introitus, an absent hymen and marked laxity of the anal sphincter, with the vaginal findings consistent with penile penetration.
Justice Oshodi rejected the defence argument that the absence of DNA or sperm testing weakened the prosecution’s case, holding that the medical findings provided corroboration of penetration.
The court also dismissed the suggestion that the child could have been sexually abused by her stepsister, describing the claim as speculation.
Another defence relied on an audio recording in which a teacher claimed the girl later said the incident was a dream.
The judge rejected the evidence after noting that the teacher had acknowledged responding, “No, it can’t,” when the child initially reported the allegation before questioning her until she denied it.
Justice Oshodi held that the subsequent denial could not be regarded as a free or reliable statement.
The judge similarly rejected a survey report tendered by the defence to argue that the school toilet was too small for the alleged offence to have occurred there.
He noted that the survey was conducted more than three years after the incident and during the pendency of the case at the instance of the convict.
He also pointed to conflicting evidence from defence witnesses regarding the number of toilets at the school and the surveyor’s inability to establish whether the toilet measured was the same one identified in the allegation.
The court further rejected Isaac’s claim that the prosecution was motivated by tribal sentiment because he is Igbo.
Justice Oshodi noted that there was no evidence of previous hostility between Isaac and the victim’s family.
He also observed that the girl’s mother had previously given Isaac a gift after he taught her daughter.
The judge consequently held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“Therefore, I find that on 10 March 2022, in the male toilet of El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School, the convict had sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix by penetrating her vagina with his penis. The second ingredient has been proved beyond reasonable doubt,” he held.
During sentencing, Justice Oshodi said Isaac had abused the trust placed in him by the child and her family.
The judge noted that Isaac had previously taught the girl and that parents in the community also entrusted their children to him for transportation on his motorcycle.
He held that Isaac exploited that trust to lure the child into the toilet and commit the offence.
Justice Oshodi also directed the prosecution to take immediate steps under the Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Law 2022 to secure any protection and support required by the victim and her family.
The order followed a complaint by the victim’s mother during the sentencing hearing that staff of El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School had allegedly continued to intimidate her and the child in Epe.
The judge, however, expressly stated that the court made no finding on the complaint.
The prosecution was led by Inumidun Solarin, assisted by B.E. Okeowo and I.E. Balogun, while Anthony O. Agadah represented Isaac. E.I. Ukpabio held a watching brief for the nominal complainant.
