Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of a Lagos Special Offences Court, Ikeja has sentenced a 31-year-old teacher, Idowu Daniel, to seven years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student within school premises.
The judge, while delivering judgement on the defilement case earlier today, found him guilty of sexual assault.
Justice Taiwo held that the prosecution failed to prove the charge of defilement against the defendant, as the survivor failed to show up in court to testify.
The judge held that the confessional statement by the defendant, which was made voluntarily, showed that he sexually assaulted the minor.
According to her, “the defendant admitted to having fondled the breast of the survivor twice and tried to have sex with her but he could not penetrate as she was a virgin. The defendant is hereby convicted on the charge of sexual assault of a child.”
Before sentencing, Daniel pleaded for mercy, he said, ” I am very sorry for what happened. I promise it will not happen again.”
The judge berated the convict for touching (fondling) the survivor and noted that he would have gotten life imprisonment if the minor had testified in court.
“You are a teacher and you were touching the breast of your student. You would have gone for life if the victim had come to court to testify.
The judge, who had earlier sentenced the convict to five years imprisonment, however, increased his jail term to seven years without an option of a fine after saying that he had been in custody for three years.
The convict was remanded to Kirikiri prison on the order of the Chief Magistrate sometime in July 2019.