30th March, 2023
By Adenike Ayodele
A teacher with Thescol College, a school in Ikeja area of Lagos, Peter Jacob, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for defiling a 9-year-old pupil with special needs.
Jacob committed the offence sometimes in 2019, according to the prosecution counsel.
The victim was a pupil in the primary school section of the school which also houses the secondary school where Jacob worked.
The survivor suffered from dyslexia.
Jacob was arraigned before Ikeja Sexual offences and Domestic Violence Court for violation of Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
While delivering judgment on the case on Thursday, Justice Abiola Soladoye held that the prosecution had efficiently proved the charge of defilement against the defendant.
According to her, the evidence of the respective prosecution witnesses were cogent, compelling and believable.
The judge held that the evidence of the defendant and the three defence witnesses (staff of the school where the defendant worked) were self-serving.
She said: “The defendant was observed to be unrepentant and remorseful.
“The prosecution witness 1 (survivor) properly identified the defendant when she gave her evidence and her evidence was properly corroborated by the other three witnesses.
“The prosecution has successfully established the ingredients of the offence against the defendant.
“The defendant is Godless, brutally wicked, lustful and an act unbecoming of a teacher.
“I find him guilty of the charge and he is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.”
Soladoye said that the convict should have his name registered in the sexual offence register as maintained by Lagos State.
The prosecution team, Mr Olusola Soneye, Mrs Olufunke Adegoke and Ms. Abimbola Abolade presented four witnesses and eight exhibits were also tendered during the proceedings while defence called four witnesses.
(NAN)