Justice Abiola Soladoye, in her judgment, held that the prosecution had successfully discharged the burden of proof of the charge of defilement against Okeh.

According to her, Okeh is a pathological liar, soulless man without any iota of shame, and everything a teacher should not be for having unlawful sexual intercourse with his pupil.

Soladoye said the case was a direct evidence as the survivor was in court to narrate her sexual ordeals in the hands of the music teacher; a sexual predator.

She added that the evidence of the survivor was lucid, cogent, unequivocal and compelling and the denial of the convict did not hold waters.

“To the mind of this court, the denial of the convict is a form to distance himself from the crime.

“The convict is a pathological liar whose evidence is an after-thought and I do not believe him at all.

“I do not believe the other three defence witnesses as well, because their evidences were devoid of truth and they were tainted witnesses.

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“Cases are not won on the number of witnesses presented to testify before the court but on the quality of evidence adduced that are credible, convincing and compelling,” the judge said.

The judge added that the survivor in her testimony had narrated how the convict called her upstairs into the music room, where he showed her different nude pictures, claimed to be a cultist and threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone.

“The survivor recognised the man in the box as her music teacher who defiled her more than two times in the music room.

“The testimony of the Investigative Police Officer, IPO, is corroborated by the testimony of the survivor when she said that the mother of the girl noticed her reluctance to go to school and she later confessed to her mother what the convict had been doing to her.

“The IPO said that the mother of the survivor (nominal complainant) reported the case to the police.

“Statement of the nominal complainant was admitted into evidence,” Soladoye added.

She therefore convicted Okeh of the one-count charge of defilement and consequently sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Soladoye also ordered that the convict’s name be registered in the Lagos State Sexual Offences Register.

She also called on school proprietors and proprietress to recruit teachers with high moral standards to teach in their schools so as to avoid dent on their institutions.

“All stakeholders in the administration of criminal justice must form a strong collaboration in combating sexual violence offences so as to protect the dignity, mental health, physical and psychological trauma of survivors in such cases,” she said.

State counsel, Miss Abimbola Abolade, presented two witnesses; the survivor and an investigative police officer while the defence called four witnesses.

Abolade told the court that the convict committed the offence on September 6, 2022 at Lachez O International School, Agege, Lagos.

The prosecution submitted that the convict had unlawful sexual intercourse with the minor by penetrating her vagina with his penis.

According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

Source: NAN

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Justice Abiola Soladoye sentenced Jackson to life imprisonment and held that the prosecution had proved the three ingredients of defilement against the convict.

Delivering her judgment, Soladoye held that the survivor was 7-year-old at the time of the incident and during her testimony identified Jackson, a gateman in one of the houses on her street, as her abuser.

“The testimony of the survivor was clear, consistent and coherent under cross-examination.

“The second prosecution witness was a teacher who identified that the survivor was her student.

“She testified that one of the survivor’s classmate had reported to her that the survivor was not feeling well and she was walking in a funny way.

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“The teacher, in her evidence, said that she made inquiry and discovered that the survivor was complaining of pains in her private part and that someone had sexually assaulted her,” the judge said.

Soladoye also held that the  testimony of the survivor’s  father was credible and was also corroborated with  the evidence of the other two prosecution witnesses.

She said that attempts by the convict to deny the charge did not hold waters.

“The defendant is consequently found guilty as charged for defilement of a 7-year old child contrary to Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015 and he is  hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” Soladoye said.

The judge also ordered that the name of the convict be registered in the Sexual Offences Register as maintained by Lagos State Government.

The state Counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade, called three witnesses while the convict testified on his own behalf.

Abolade, during trial informed the court that the brother of the survivor sent her on an errand on the ill-fated day.

The prosecutor submitted that the convict committed the offence on May 16, 2022, on Oyedele Close, Ojodu, Berger in Lagos.

According to the prosecution counsel, as the little girl walked past the resident the guard was securing, he pounced, covered the mouth of survivor and had unlawful sexual intercourse with her.

Source: NAN

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Folaranmi, who is the founder of David Folaranmi Foundation, narrated his experience during the foundation’s 6th Annual Symposium, on Drug Abuse, held at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, UNEC, on Thursday.

The event held for the youth, was themed “Evidence Is Clear: Invest In Prevention”.

“I was once a drug addict. When I finished schooling in Nigeria, I went to the UK in 2010 and some of my friends introduced me to hard drugs.

“It became bad that I started selling my property including my car and started living on the streets in UK; it took up to seven years of moving from one place to the other but I was rescued and rehabilitated.

“When I got better in 2017, I started this foundation to save the youths from drug addiction,” Folaranmi said.

The founder called for increased campaign against drug abuse in the country particularly in the South East to discourage youths from consuming hard drugs.

“When I went for a programme and drug survey came out, and there was high prevalence cases in the South East, we decided to establish the foundation in Enugu,” he said.

Speaking on the theme, Folaranmi said the prevention should start from the family, where parents were expected to speak to their children on dangers of drug abuse.

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According to him, communities, schools, media and religious leaders, also have roles to play in that regard.

Folaranmi explained that the symposium was also meant to remind the young people on the issue of drug abuse and its effects in the society, so they would not forget.

“So, if we can teach them at school level on prevention, it will not exceed to their adulthood. We will train them on causes, risk factors, and preventive measures.

“As we train them, they will go out and train others,” he said.

He revealed that the foundation was borne out of the need to educate Nigerians against drug abuse, especially the young people.

Delivering a lecture on Drug Abuse, the Associate Dean, Student Affairs, UNEC, Prof. Philip Udoh, recalled that during his days in school, illicit drugs were not consumed, but were common among students.

While urging them to seek medical help, if affected by it, Udoh urged for total ban on sales of hard drugs from markets.

In a remark, Lt.-Col. Adeyemi Abolade, the Commander, 82 Division Medical Services and Hospital, Enugu, commended the foundation for the programme, saying that drug abuse was a menace to the society.

He urged students to desist from it as its prevention was cheap, but could cost a lot to treat.

A student, Miracle Oji, from Jesus Foundation School, Enugu, expressed happiness over the sensitisation, stressing that, “I have learnt a lot about drug abuse and how it affect our lives. I will take the message to my friends and other members of my community.”

The event was attended by many secondary schools from the state capital, representatives of security agencies and health officers among others.

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Lagos State government had arraigned Emmanuel before the court on a lone-count charge of defilement to which he pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution told the court that Emmanuel allegedly defiled the pastor’s daughter between April and July 2021 at Ajangbadi area of Badagry.

Prosecution counsel said the offence contravened the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.

Following his not guilty plea, state counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade, invited the pastor to testify before the court.

The witness told the court that Emmanuel was his tenant, whom he knew through an estate agent.

He said he had known Emmanuel for three to four years and that his daughter identified the defendant as the person responsible for her pregnancy since he had been sleeping with her.

“Godwin defiled my daughter and impregnated her at the age of 16 years.

“I reported the case at Area K Police Station in Badagry where my daughter confirmed that he had been sleeping with her for a long time.

“My daughter kept the pregnancy and gave birth to a female child,’’ he said.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Victor Edet, the pastor told the court that he could not recollect the precise date that he reported the case to the police.

He said, however, that he later reported the case at the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency and at a medical centre when the police did nothing about his complaint.

He said he was convinced that it was the defendant that impregnated his daughter.

He said Emmanuel’s wife, a nurse, gave drugs to his daughter to abort the pregnancy.

The pastor also told the court that his daughter told him that during one of the sex romps, the condom in use broke.

Emmanuel, however, told her to shift responsibility to a third person whom he introduced to her, the pastor added.

Presiding Justice Abiola Soladoye adjourned further hearing in the case to December 11.

Source: NAN

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