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.
It was 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.
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