Teacher Gets Life Jail For Sexually Assaulting 8-year-Old Pupil

Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted and sentenced a former social studies teacher at Hilltop Grade International School in Agungi, Lagos, David Odiong, to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting his eight-year-old pupil.

Justice Rahman delivered the verdict after finding Odiong guilty of a two-count charge of sexual assault, which involved penetrating the victim’s vagina with his finger.

The judge also sentenced the convict to seven years for indecent treatment of a child, an offence that contravenes sections 261 and 135 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

The court further ordered the state government to record the convict’s name in the Lagos State Sex Offenders Register, in accordance with sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law 2021.

During the trial, the prosecution team led by Israel Solarin told the court that the offences occurred on December 4, 2020, after school hours, when other students had left.

Solarin stated that the survivor, then in Primary 3, was called to Odiong’s classroom by a nanny to correct her classwork after her classmates had gone home.

He also told the judge that with her classmates gone and the girl waiting for her mother, Odiong allegedly isolated her, removed her pants, touched and penetrated her vagina with his finger multiple times, kissed her forehead and cheek, and placed her on his lap.

In her testimony, the child’s mother stated that she realised her daughter was behaving unusually on February 5, 2021.

The mother claimed that the girl said, “Mummy, Mr David is weird, and Mr David will not leave her alone,” describing the touches, kisses, and hugs from a Friday in December, during her last exam paper.

The witness testified that she reported to the school head, Mrs Linda Etukudo, on February 8, 2021. “Police at Ajiwe Station, Ajah, arrested him and referred the girl to Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF). She was later informed that the medical exam showed Odiong “actually poked her hymen.”

The survivor stated in her testimony that, “Mr David touched my vagina several times… he removed my pants and used his hand to touch my vagina,” confirming it happened after school on a Friday when others had gone home.

A Medical Expert, Dr Aniekan Makanjuola, also told the court that during her examination, she found the girl to be “sad, shy, and scared.”

She revealed that the genital exam showed “bruises and rashes on the inner surface of the labia minora, and redness around the urethral and vaginal openings… remnants of the hymen. The conclusion indicated “blunt penetration of the vagina” from finger or blunt object trauma.”

Odiong, the sole defence witness, denied the allegations, claiming he only pecked the child’s forehead as encouragement, gave a high-five, and patted her back during COVID-19 exam reviews.

In his judgment, Justice Oshodi stated, “The protection of children from sexual predation is a paramount duty of this court. As a teacher, you occupy a position of trust, and, in your case, the sentence must reflect the gravity of your offence, deter others, and protect children from persons such as yourself.

“Having regard to all these considerations, only the maximum sentence is appropriate. Parents entrust their children to teachers with the expectation that they will be protected, yet you betrayed that trust.

“Secondly, the prosecutrix was only eight years old, a profound age of vulnerability. Third, your conduct was premeditated. You deliberately created circumstances in which you could abuse this child without interference,” the judge held.