The Lagos State Police Command has
arraigned a 52-year-old school teacher, Isaac Ikiabeke, for allegedly
raping a five-year-old pupil in the Ikorodu area of the state.
PUNCH Metro gathered that
Ikiabeke, who is also the proprietor of the school, Brighter Glory
School, located on Etunrere Street, raped his victim after school hours.
The victim, five-year-old Pat (pseudonym), told our correspondent the father of three had allegedly raped her 10 times.
She said, “He has been doing it for some
time. He has done it more than 10 times. I am not the only one. He does
it with some of us after school hours. I could not tell anybody because
he said if I did he would beat me.”
The victim’s grandfather explained to
our correspondent that his attention was drawn to the sexual assault by
some of Pat’s classmates.
He said he was shocked, as well as disappointed in Ikiabeke, whom he regarded as a respectable person.
He
said, “Pat and her younger sister stay with me and they attend the
school. I never suspected anything initially, except that I observed she
would be holding her belly and turning on the bed and when I asked her
what happened, she would say she was having stomachache.
“It was one of her classmates that told
me what the school owner had been doing to her and I quickly went to
report at the station, after which he was arrested.”
Our correspondent was also told that the matter was brought to the attention of the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender.
A police source told PUNCH Metro that the police got complaints from two victims.
He said a three-year-old pupil, who was equally raped by the suspect, was in a critical condition in a hospital.
He said, “There were actually two pupils
that we were told he raped. The atrocity had been going on for a long
time before he was arrested.”
Our correspondent was told that Pat had also been taken to the hospital for treatment.
The police on Monday arraigned Ikiabeke before a Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court on one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
The charge read, “That you, Isaac
Ikiabeke, on June 9, 2015, at about 3pm, at Brighter Glory School,
Etunrere Street, Ikorodu, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did
have unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, (name withheld) aged five
years and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 258 (1)
of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge and elected summary trial.
He was represented by two counsel – Marcus Imoudu and Kola Afolayan.
Also in court were A.O. Komolafe and B.N. Ameh of the OPD, who held brief for the complainant.
Imoudu prayed the court to admit the defendant to bail in liberal terms.
But the police prosecutor, Cyril Ejiofor, of the State Department of Criminal Investigation, objected to the bail application.
He said, “While I agree that bail is at
the discretion of the court, I oppose the bail application of the
defence counsel. He has not given any cogent reason to the court for
which the defendant should be granted bail.
“The charge before the court is
punishable by life imprisonment. And although we don’t want to go into
proof of evidence, I want the court to take cognisance of the fact that
two minors are involved in the substantive charge.
“This is a vice that is affecting
society. I want the court to look at the interest of the state in
granting bail to the defendant.”
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Soladoye, in her ruling, said the offence was bailable.
She thereafter admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N1m with two sureties in like sum.
“One of the sureties must be a school
proprietor or proprietress, while the second surety must be a serving
civil servant of Grade Level 17,” she added.
The case was adjourned till August 10, 2015.
0 comments:
Post a Comment