A Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, Monday, upheld the 60-year+sentence for a former school administrator, Mr. Adegboyega Adenekan of the Chrisland School, Lagos, over the sexual abuse of a two-year and 11-month old pupil of the school.
Delivering judgment in the appeal, the three-member panel led by Justice Mohammad Garba unanimously affirmed the judgment of the lower court and held that Adenekan’s appeal lacked merit.
It can be recalled that, Mr. Adenekan was arraigned before an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Jan. 29, 2018 and had plead not guilty to a charge of defilement. Then, on the 24th October, 2019, Justice Sybil Nwaka of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, convicted and sentenced Adenekan to 60 years imprisonment for abusing the pupil.
Delivering that judgment, Justice Nwaka upheld that Adenekan abused the trust of children in his care as well as the trust of their parents.
“This defendant is conscienceless, wicked, an animal and is not fit to walk the streets. I hereby sentence Adegboyega Adenekan to 60-years in prison this is the sentence of the court,” she said.
Following Adenekan’s sentencing, his defence counsel, Mr. Olatunde Adejuyigbe, SAN, however, filed an appeal challenging the validity of the entire judgment.
The Lagos State prosecution team led by Mr. Jide Boye, however, maintained that Adenekan committed the offence, adding that the High Court’s judgement was valid.
It recalled that Adenekan committed the offence sometime in November 2016 at Chrisland School, VGC, Lagos.
It further narrated the crime, revealing that Adenekan had defiled the toddler by having unlawful sexual intercourse with her, in contravention of Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
During the trial at the High Court, seven witnesses including the pupil and her mother, testified for the prosecution.
The pupil who was four-years old when she testified on March 22, 2018, had narrated to the court how Adenekan had defiled her.
“He put his mouth in my wee-wee, the first time he did that, he took me out of the class, the second time, I ran.
“I tried to report to my teacher but my teacher did not believe me, so I reported to my mummy.
“First time he did it was inside his office which was the toilet, the second time he did it was in the hall which was outside.
“I did not like what he did, he put his hand in my wee-wee, he put his wee-wee in my wee-wee and he put his mouth in my wee-wee,” the pupil said.
The prosecution closed its case on March 14, 2019.
Five witnesses, including Adenekan and the head teacher of the nursery arm of the Chrisland School, testified for defence.
