The Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, Ikeja, has sentenced a school teacher, Nwatu Isaac, to life imprisonment for defiling an eight-year-old pupil of the El-Bossaa Nursery and Primary School, Epe.
Justice Rahman Oshodi handed down the sentence on Tuesday after finding Isaac guilty of the offence committed on March 10, 2022.
The judge also ordered that Isaac’s name be entered in the Lagos State Sexual Offenders Register.
The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency disclosed this in a statement on Friday, saying the order was made “in line with Sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law, 2021.”
The agency said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, establishing that the survivor was a child and that Isaac had sexual intercourse with her.
The survivor, who was nine years old when she testified, identified Isaac in court and told the court how he, whom she knew as “Master Isaac,” took her into the school toilet and sexually assaulted her.
Justice Oshodi found her testimony credible and consistent.
The court also considered evidence from the survivor’s mother, who noticed blood on her daughter’s underwear and vagina after she returned home from school.
Medical evidence from the Mirabel Centre was presented and the agency said it “corroborated the evidence of penetration.”
The court rejected Isaac’s denial that he went beyond the school gate on the day of the incident, noting that his own testimony placed him at the school at the material time.
Justice Oshodi also dismissed his alibi defence, as well as suggestions that the survivor could have been abused by her stepsister or that the school toilet was too small for the offence to have occurred.
While sentencing Isaac, the judge said he had abused the trust placed in him by the survivor and her family.
The agency said Oshodi noted that Isaac “was once her teacher and was also entrusted by parents in the community to transport their children.”
The judge further directed the prosecution to take “immediate steps” under the Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Law, 2022, to secure “whatever protection and support the survivor and her family require.”
Isaac was prosecuted under Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, which prescribes life imprisonment for unlawful sexual intercourse with a child.
