An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Wednesday sentenced a 35-year-old music teacher and counselor, Anthony Okeh, to life imprisonment for defiling a nine-year-old, JSS 1 pupil name withheld)

That 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.

“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.

The 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 Sept. 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. (NAN)

The Police Command in Osun is yet to receive any official communication on the escape of seven inmates from the the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Ilesa, Osun.

The Police Spokesperson for the command, DSP Abiodun Ojelabi, said that the police state command had not been officially briefed or informed of the incident by the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

“We heard also about the escape, but there is no official report made to the police by the NCoS.

“Our Intel revealed to us that actually, there was an escape.

“The cause of the escape is what we don’t know because our men have gone there.

“From the intelligience report we got, there is nothing we can lay hands on that made the inmates escape.

“The NCoS should inform us about what actually happened,” he said

Ojelabi said: “the police is out to protect lives and property and any criminal we see, we will apprehend”.

The NCoS declared seven inmates missing as a result of rain that damaged the security perimeter of the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Ilesa in the early hours of Tuesday.

The heavy rainfall around 2:00 a.m. caused a breach in the facility’s structure, allowing the inmates to escape.

Confirming the development, the Controller-General of Corrections, Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, in a statement signed by Umar Abubakar, Deputy Controller of Corrections, Public Relations Officer, on Tuesday, ordered an immediate investigation into the incident and assured the public that efforts were underway to return the escapees to custody.

“The service is working closely with sister security agencies as well as community leaders to recapture the escapees and bring them back to custody,” the NCoS said in the statement.

“However, the Service solicits the cooperation and support of the public in providing information that may lead to the recapture of the fleeing inmates.”

Authorities have since launched a manhunt to recapture the fugitives. (NAN) 

 An Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan on Wednesday, ordered that a 27-year-old man, Musa Lamidi should be remanded in a correctional facility for allegedly killing his father, Rufai,

The police charged Lamidi, whose address was not provided with murder.

The Magistrate, Mr Olaolu Olanipekun did not take the plea of Lamidi for want in jurisdiction.

He directed the police to return the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.

He adjourned the case until July 10, for mention.

The Prosecutor, ASP Musbau Lawal, told the court that Lamidi committed the offence on May 11, at about 11 p.m, at Eruwa, Oyo State.

He alleged that Lamidi hit his father with a stick on the forehead, which caused his death.

He said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 319 of the Criminal Laws of Oyo State, 2000. (NAN)