A 41-year-old teacher, Chukwu Ndubuisi, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a six-year-old girl on the school premises.
Ndubuisi, a former staff of the Mind Builders Nursery and Primary School, Omole Phase 11, was convicted by a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, on Monday.
Delivering her judgment, Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya, ruled that the prosecution was able to prove the charge of defilement against the defendant.
Ndubuisi, who was a part-time art teacher at the school, committed the offence in 2016.
Earlier, the defendant was granted a bail of N100,000 by Justice Olufunke Sule-Amzat, who was a Magistrate when Ndubusi was arraigned.
However, following the legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution, Ndubuisi’s trial was later transferred to Justice Ogunsanya.
The judge held,” The fact, circumstances, and quality of evidence against the defendant was compelling. The first time the victim told her mother of her experience was when she (the mother) was discussing the case of a seven-year-old girl that was defiled and killed which went viral.
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“The account of the victim and that of her mother was uncontroverted, corroborated each other, and they gave a good account of the sexual assault.”
The convict, had on several occasions sent the victim’s friend to call her, Ogunsanya noted.
The judge stated that the first time the defendant defiled his victim was in the female toilet, while the second time was in the art room of the school.
She said, “The victim told the court that sometimes, her teacher (defendant) asked her to remove her uniform and put his ‘bumbum’ into her ‘bum bum’.
“At another time, he called her into the art room, he put her on the table, parted her panties, and put his thing into my thing. She said the victim told the court that when the defendant is finished, he would clean up the victim with water.”
The court said the defendant had unhindered access to the child and defiled her several times.
Ogunsanya upheld the result of the test conducted at the Mirabel Centre which showed that the victim had torn hymen and reddish vulva and that there was evidence of forceful penetration.
While the counsel to the defendant, Olagunju pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy, the state prosecutor, Kareem Jubril, argued that the law under which the defendant was charged did not give the court any discretion.
Justice Ogunsanya subsequently sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment.
She said, “The defendant (Ndubuisi) is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment for the defilement of a child.”