The Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced a former teacher, Nwatu Isaac, to life imprisonment for defiling an eight-year-old pupil inside the toilet of El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School in Epe.
Justice Rahman Oshodi delivered the judgment on Tuesday, finding Isaac guilty of the offence committed on March 10, 2022. The judge ruled that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court also directed that Isaac’s name be placed on the Sex Offenders Register in line with Sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law 2021.
Isaac was charged under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which provides for life imprisonment for anyone who unlawfully has sexual intercourse with a child.
The judge said the prosecution had successfully established the two key elements of the offence: that the victim was a child and that Isaac had sexual intercourse with her.
Justice Oshodi dismissed Isaac’s claim that he did not go beyond the school gate 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 remained at the gate.
However, the judge ruled that Isaac’s own testimony confirmed his presence at the school at the relevant time, while the victim identified him as the person who took her into the toilet.
The court also dismissed his alibi defence, observing that Isaac did not claim to have been at another location when the offence took place.
“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.”
Justice Oshodi described the testimony of the victim, who was nine years old when she testified, as credible and consistent.
The judge said the girl provided a “clear, detailed and coherent account” of how Isaac, whom she knew as “Master Isaac”, took her into the school toilet and sexually assaulted her.
According to the court, the victim identified Isaac during the proceedings and maintained her account despite extensive cross-examination.
The court also found supporting evidence in the testimony of the girl’s mother, who said she noticed blood on her daughter’s underwear and vagina shortly after she returned from school.
Justice Oshodi further considered the evidence of a medical doctor who examined the child at the Mirabel Centre.
The judge said the doctor observed an easily dilatable introitus, an absent hymen and marked laxity of the anal sphincter, with the vaginal findings being consistent with penile penetration.
The court rejected the defence argument that the absence of DNA or sperm testing weakened the prosecution’s case, holding that the medical findings supported the evidence of penetration.
Justice Oshodi also dismissed the suggestion that the child may have been sexually abused by her stepsister, describing the claim as speculation.
The judge similarly rejected an audio recording presented by the defence in which a teacher claimed the child later said the incident was a dream.
Justice Oshodi noted that the teacher admitted responding, “No, it can’t,” after the child initially told her that the allegation was true, before questioning the girl until she denied the incident.
The judge ruled that the child’s later statement could not be considered free or reliable.
The court also dismissed a survey report presented by the defence to support the argument that the school toilet was too small for the alleged offence to have occurred there.
Justice Oshodi noted that the survey was carried out more than three years after the incident, while the case was already before the court, and at the request of the convict.
He further pointed out that defence witnesses gave contradictory accounts regarding the number of toilets in the school, while the surveyor could not establish whether the toilet he measured was the same one mentioned in the allegation.
The court also rejected Isaac’s claim that the prosecution was driven by tribal sentiment because he is Igbo.
Justice Oshodi said there was no evidence of any previous hostility between Isaac and the victim’s family. He also noted that the girl’s mother had previously given Isaac a gift after he taught her daughter.
The judge concluded 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,” the judge held.
The court subsequently convicted Isaac of defilement.
While delivering the sentence, Justice Oshodi said Isaac had betrayed the trust placed in him by the child and her family.
The judge noted that Isaac had previously been the girl’s teacher, while parents in the community also trusted him with transporting their children on his motorcycle.
According to the court, Isaac used that trust to lure the child into the toilet and commit the offence.
Justice Oshodi further noted that Isaac consistently denied the allegation throughout the trial and attributed the prosecution to tribal sentiment.
The judge stressed that the court had a responsibility to protect children and demonstrate that sexual abuse of minors would attract the full force of the law.
The court therefore sentenced Isaac to life imprisonment.
Justice Oshodi also ordered the prosecution to immediately take steps under the Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Law 2022 to provide any necessary protection and support to the victim and her family.
The directive followed a complaint by the victim’s mother during sentencing that staff members of El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School had allegedly continued to intimidate her and the victim in Epe.
However, the judge made it clear that the court had 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 appeared on a watching brief for the nominal complainant.
